


,HO, 



• .^^' 









^°'-^. 









^ <^<^ 












'ol 









"i^' 






^:^^c^:- 









m 



•^0* 



^o^ 



v/-:^^- 


.^^^ 


^% 




\^ 




,•• **'% 


:i^ 

'■y^- 


u 




". '•°' 









^ ••••* V* 



.v 



V .' 






cr- 









iL 









<> '• 



0^ * 












^..<^ 



r .^i::'^ 



lV-^. 






>*' ■^^^ ••h*<.- *' 



.0* .••••- o. 



•V 



♦<^. 









^\ 






•^ 












>■?« 






V 



4^ %. '•-'sR^/' v^ 






SPEECH 



HON.A.P.m'TLER.nFSOUTirrAROLIXA 



DIFFICULTY OF MESSRS. lUlOOKS AND SUMXEPv, 



A\D THE CAUSES THEREOF. 



tILIVfilBD IK THE 8ENATB OP TIIC UNITED STATBfl. J U .V B lt-19, ISM 



WASHINGTON : 

PRINTED AT TIIK CO.NGRESSIO.NAL GLOBS OfFlCB. 

185€. 



MU. iJK'onKS AM) MR. STMNUII. 



Mr ^1 T I I^l> 

\jcvn ,.■■■, 
h«<1 no ro! • 
'Whrh kv\- 



nhoM 

CO«l; 

(be i; 
nnr- 



.• y- t !.. diM'jr'' lip- J- ace ajid 
intrjr. 

" ■ I ■ 



lirrrrd 1 wm not hrrr; and if i 
what I »hi>uM h«T«- doiv it w. 
idto for MM now tn a.ir; brvnuf t: . 
■Mule (Iw ddibcnuo'n* ..f r\ ^utwr.) 
ror««ck«« oufht h«vririi!urni>-d !mh 
t«M an^ Din^ diir>'r<nt cir t;;> 
>n nov ■ that, if I hau 
ka«oa«kni il»* S^-f^Fiiof, .. 



harr . 



IjfflV', JU*L|- 

K'uoii, and 



mjr 

■now 

trk- 

rnin- 



. It. Hut 1 
• >rlrd to, i 



I m i«h i had tw-nn k^rr. | vould h«»r at ! 

ibilNy as » S : ' 

a re(>n »«n*. i 

IM^if nrm, i 



top., 
if Ik 

that 



-. to 
•in. 



were not presented. Now, they have been pre- 

i»«i.(-.i -.! ! • ■■ 5- li-.'t' i:: .1 li::'. r-'iit way from any 
ilii! 1 MU'.tt'il from any 

t\, ■ re not presentcil 

by • sent directly to 

the -.t, aiiJ the Speaker of 

the . ves. 1 waited for some 

lini ; hat, when ilieseresolu- 

tjor , 1 uouid acquit myself of the 

paa; : circumstances liad devolved 

up<.> ; lid not come until yesterday — 

more luAU iwu Mct^ks after their adoption. 

In tlie mean nme — on Monday last — I pave 
notice that I would address the Senate to-ilay, 
under the confident belief, not that the present 
Senator [Mr. Wilson) would be here — because 1 
have I •:..,• I • d> \mli him— but that the Sen- 
aio.' -^"r, the criminal 

ng- i'C present; and 

if 1 . i.y of Dr. Boyle, 

I fc. .. i.y i.t iiioulJ not be present. 

For '. apjxars in tiiat testimony i if 

he i 'i'-er of tlie Army, and had not 

appcifid the ncxt day on the battle-field, he 
would have desirved to be cashiered. 

Sir, I !\i:\ ;u a Lisa to know why he has aimed 
his individually, and at mv Stale 

on •■ • tiian one; liut I am willing to 

aduj • . rded by the Rev. Mr. Beecher; 

and, ai ii is j. ckw upon ilie subject, I rely on il. 
I wuth noiking of nuue lo go out that 1 do not 
.nteud to be eutirelyconsistent with the convictions 
of my mind. I ask to have Mr. Beeciier's re- 
marks read. I adopt ihcm, and they will acquit 
the Senator — or they will go very Jar to acquit 
aim. 

Tl>c SecRCTART read as follows: 

Tip- >'filv complaint wliieli ) have ever heard or Scn- 

. has tH-vu tliiii : lliat he, by hu lihniikilig and 

■ ir.', was not ril liir llie ' rough nnil tiiiiible' of 

liny. H<' would have held himself back, and 

..:.:; tlip »li;hii^toTrrnse, had it not been that he 

■»** I. i.;o.. a and Kctudcd uKu it by, la 1 tJiiuK, tlio injudi- 
iMU« crilK'iiiii of frieiid"."' 

Mr. BUTLER. Sir, I believe it, and it will 
acquit his motives to some extent. Instead of 
moiling liis sjieech here his own, as a Senator, 
aoder the obligations of the Constitution, and the 
Utgheal sanctions which can intluence the conduct 
of an honorable man — instead of making it the 
vehicle of high ilioughis and noble emotions that 
would become a man and a Senator, it is obvious 
now that he has made that speech but the conduit 
— I will use a stronger expression — the fang, 
through which to express upon the public the 
• ximpouud poison of malignity and injustice. This 
14 confirmeJ by )iis remarkable exordium; for, in 
lUAuy respects, this is the mo.si extraordinary 
apcccb tlial has ever found its way in any'boolc, 
«jr upon any uccAsioii, ancient or modern. I have 
never U f.jrc heard of proem or exordium by 
proclamation; and yet, before the delivery of his 
.ipeech, by a telegraphic proclamation lo Thco- 
lorc I'arker,hc uiten d this remarkable sentence: 
•' WhiUt you are deliberating in your meeting I 
mn aLijulto pronounce iJie most thorough philippic 
;hnl %nM ever heard in the Si nale of the United 
fciiatea." This is in conformity with Mr. Par- 
ker's opinion, lie was a flexible conformist in- 
voking the spirit of Theodore Parker tw his muse 
«o ■usiAin him in the strife for which, by his na- 
urt and hm lulcnta, he \vas not fil. Sir, ii was 



the tribute and deference of a flexible conformist, 
willing to be a rhetorical fabiicator to carry out 
the views and subserve the purposes of n man 
who, as I understand, is of an iron will and 
robust intellect; who lovos controversy, and has 
abilities which more fit him, perhaps, for that, 
than for worshiping the lamb as the emblem of 
innocence, and as "the prototyiie of that Christ 
whose doctrines he lias professed. To conciliate 
Parker, the Senator must make war upon South 
Carolina and upon myself. If he supposed that 
he would gain laurels by any attack on me be- 
cause I was a " foeman worthy of his steel," I 
I might feel complimented; but there was no such 
purpose. It was to jiander to the prejudices of 
Massachusetis, or a portion of Massachusetts^ 
for God forbid that 1 should say anything which 
is not proper of Massachusetts — to pander to a 
I portion of ^lassachusetts by assailing South Car- 
, olina. Before I finish I shall say what I think, 
and if he were lure in his place I would make 
him hang his head in shame; for 1 will demon- 
strate, before I conclude, that, in what he has 

■ said of South Carolina, he has aspersed the near- 
est and dearest comrade of his mother. Yes, sir, 
a degenerate son, incapable of appreciating the 
relations which subsisted between Massachusetts 

' and South Carolina at a time when there was 
something more of peril to be encountered than 
' exhibitions of rhetoric in the Senate of the United 
States; when men placed their lives and their 
fortunes on the issue which had been made. I 
will prove him a calumniator. While he has 
charged me with misslatini: history, law, and the 
Constitution, let me say that " he who lives in 
glass houses should not throw stones." I here 
say, and I ])led»e myself to it, that I will convict 
him, and shall demand of the Senate a verdict of 
ij guilty. 

I But, Mr. President, there is one result of this 
I speech which I think may be regarded as good. 
t' He has shown, as Mr. Beecher says, that he is 
I unfit for the war of debate. He has no business 
I to gather the glories of the Senate Chamber and 
' fight with orators, unless he is prepared lo main- 
tain the position of an honorable combatant. 
Though his friends have invested him with the 
' dress of Achilles and ofl'ered him his armor, he 
has shown that he is only able to fight with the 
' weapons of Thersites, and deserved what that 
, brawler received from the hands of the gallant 
I Ulysses. 

I (must say, Mr. President, that I was utterly 

■ I disappointed in the body of the speech. Inde- 

peimenl of the personalities which have distorted 
' and disgraced it, there is nothing in the speech to 

II distinguish it from pretty nearly all the speeches 
] which he has made ujkmi this subject — and I be- 
ll lieve he has scarcely made any speeches on any 
|| other. He is one of those one-idea men who 
I always go one way. Whilst this speech has 
hmuch of tlie identity of former cflorts, it has 
!| none of the freshness of their originality. If 

1 there is anything that varies it at all and dislin- 
jlguishcs il from the others, it is the calico nicturcs 
I impressed upon the "warp and woof of his 
, former speecnes in the form of quotations; some 
!! of which — I say it as a moralist and as a Sen- 
I'aloF — stain the cloth upon which they are im- 
;• pressed, more by their obscenity than ho can 
il adorn il with the glare of their coloring. 



I have made these remarks upon the character 
of the speech. He may regard them a.'; criticism. | 
Whether my criticism be one that will be adopt- I 
cd by the public, or such as will address itself to j 
the good taste and good sense of this audience, I ' 
know not, I have given the convictions of my [ 
mind. J 

After these remarks upcrn the character of the jj 
speech, I come to make my points; and I will \ 
maintain them, not by general charges v/ithouti 
specifications; not by that proclivity to error and 1 
falsehood which the Senator so decently imputed j 1 
to me; not by general declamation from which he ! 
can take refuge in his own authority; but I will l| 
prove them by documents beyond all question, jj 

In the first place, I say that what the Senator i 
said of me and of the State of South Carolina was : 
dragged into the debate by no law of legitimate | 
association or connection; but it was injected; 
into his speech positively in disregard of the j 
tone and spirit of mine — neither in reply to, nor 
in recognition of, the kindness and forbearance j | 
which pervaded my speech. Sir, I am nowjj 
passing through the last chapter of my public I j 
life. When I came here this year, I said to friends, | ' 
'* The last thing I would wish is, to have my | 
name or reputation, if I have any, associated with 

Sarty strife, much less with party contentions." | 
ly speech upon the Kansas question was the | 
most guarded and remarkable for its forbearance j 
of any that I have ever delivered. I commenced j 
it by this declaration: j 

" It may be said that I have passed througli the ordeal of 
experience, and perhaps of time, and that they iiave had ' 
their influence on my temper; but, sir, I look on anything | 
Jike a rupture in civil government, and especially such a 
one as would throw us into the horrors of anureliy, with not 
the same view as others who may be more intrepid, and 
who may tliink they can come out of it without hazard to 
Iherasel ves. Ther-e is nothing so mischievous to society as 
any movement afiectiug its stability, uncontrolled by re- 
sponsibility and unregulated by iutelligence." 

Upon another occasion I remarked that I would 
be the last man to do or to say anything that | 
would commit the issue in Kansas to the arbitra- | 
ment of the sword in the hands of youth. Mine 
was a warning and a kind voice. 

Before I proceed with the argument of my main 
points further, 1 will make a suggestion which 
may, perhaps, appear parenthetical. When the 
Senator from Massachusetts took his seat near 
me, I knewthathe wasa Free-soiler, or Abolition- j 
ist, as it was termed; but notwithstanding that,! 
I had read some of his productions, and he was | 
introduced to me, or perhaps, I to him. I had ! 
known many who came into the Senate of the 
United States, reeking v/ith prejudices from 
home, who afterwards had the courage to lift 
themselves above the temporary influences which 
liad controlled them. I supposed that a man who 
had read history could not be a bigot. I believed 
that one who was imbued with the literature which 
that Senator's mind had imbibed, could not sin 
in the face of light, and truth, and the lessons of 
history. With these views, I did not hesitate to 
keep up what my friends complained of, an inter- 
course with him, which was calculated to give 
him a currency far beyond what he might have 
had if I had not indulged in that species of inter- 
course. My friends here and everywhere know 
it. When 1 made my reply to him on the Ne- 
braska and Kansas bill, I complimented him. I 



did not hesitate to compliment him, and he v/as 
gratified at it, for he said so. His opinion of me 
as a lawyer was very different then, (if I may be 
allowed to speak of what he then said,) not only 
on this floor, but to other persons. 1 did not 
hesitate to forbcara prescriptive judgment on any 
man because he happened to differ'with me to- 
day or to-morrow; for life, sir, is but a span any- 
how. I thought the time might come when the 
tide of events would hrins to" him the awful cer- 
tainty of the doctrines which he held, and which 
in the first instance, when he came here, he was 
not disposed to propagate. 

Things stood in this way until one day when 
it was proposed here to repeal the fugitive slave 
law. I said that I had no great confidence in tliat 
law, and turned to him with an honest purpose, 
with no design whatever to provoke anything 
like a personal or sectional issue, and asked of 
the Senator from Massachusetts whether, if there 
were no fugitive slave law, Massachusetts would 
be willing to carry out the provision of the Con- 
stitution. Then it was, in excitement, or as he 
said, " impulse" — an impulse, as I characterized 
it then, of the drawer — he rose and asked me if 
" he was adog to do this thing.'" I treated this 
answer with ridicule; it absolutely did not touch 
my heart; and after that I spoke to him. 

Three days afterward he came in with a labored 
philippic touching me more deeply than he had 
before; but he then made, for the first time, a 
charge affecting the revolutionary history of 
South Carolina, by saying that John Rutledge, 
who was honored by Washington and all his 
countrymen, and who is a historical character, 
had offered, in 1779, in a negotiation with Pre- 
Yost, at the gates of Charleston, that South Caro- 
lina should be neutral during the war of the Rev- 
olution. I did not wait until the next morning 
to reply to him. I responded at once, and I have 
no doubt I replied with indignation. I have no 
doubt that my heart threw the words upon him. 
Mortified vanity has no conscience; it may be 
that he did not think he came out of that contro- 
versy with as much credit as he should — at least 
his friends may have thought so. I gave hint 
notice, however, that after that I should have no 
communication with him whatever — the bridge 
had been cut down — and I never have had. 

Two years elapsed; and, during that time, I am 
bound injustice here to say, I have scarcely spoken 
to, of, or about him; and, perhaps, when I did 
speak about him, 1 said something which he 
would have been gratified to hear. My friends 
think that sometimes I did. Whatever the tempt- 
ation of my resentment may be, I have passed, 
j and s'hall pass, through life with one determina- 
I tion: if I cannot do justice, I will not do injustice 
j to any man. I have exhibited here in debate,"on 
I more occasions than one, impatience and excita- 
bility. These are peculiarities which have fol- 
lowed me from the cradle. Perhaps, sometimes, 
1 anger, in its ebullitions, may have found an ex- 
pression from me; but, thank God, I can say it 
was but a transient feeling, which at the time 
gushed from the heart; it was a feeling which 
] subsequently was suppressed by reason and re- 
pentance. That, however, is a failing which 
cannot inhabit the same mind with treachery and 
malignity. 
Now, sir, I proceed to make my points; and I 



■hall ehow that what the Senator said of myself, ' 
aiid South Carolina, was not in response to any- 
Uiinf winch I said; that he has gone outside the 
record to bring into ilie debate matters wliich did 
not legitimately belong to it by asaociatioii or 
connection. 

I will niainutin ilu-se three propositions so < 
«a-iainly that, in my opinion, there will not be 
one mind hert-, uiiUss it be disposed to mor- 
tlly perjure ii6-Af, wliich will not acquiesce in 
iheni. 1 will ^llow that his remarks upon me 
and South Carolina were untrue and unjust; the 
l^uigoafc'e U8«.d was l.ceiitious; the spirit which 
pri'iujiiid It was aiiTit^ssive; and the whole tenor 
and lone of the speech was malignant and insult- 
ing. 

In no speech which I hare made during this 
DeSMon did I name Massachusetts or South 
Caruhna. This is a most remarkable thing con- 
sidering the nature of the debate. I have culled 
what 1 8uid,aud 1 have not introduced South 
Carolina by name into the debate, nor have I 
brought in Alassachusetts. Yei, sir, this Senator 
alludes tu me in two paragraphs. I should like 
to know why he did not finisn my picture in one 
•ketch on the first day, when he spoke of me as 
inriiig '■ Don Ciuixote in love with slavery as a 
iuistre<8, because she was a harlot." I dislike 
lo rejieai ilie obscenity of his illustration. When 
he had me under review then, why did he not 
finish me in that general sketch.' He took another 
night; and during that night the chaotic concep- 
lionseitlur emanatid from his own mind or were 
suggested to it by tliose busy peo|)le who seem 
10 have control over him; and then it was that he : 
made this celebrated attack on me, assailing my 
reputation as a gentleman of veracity: I 

'• WiUi regret, I i-i>iiie:it':iiii U|>(>i) Uie Scniilorrroni South ! 
Caroliua, [Mr. IlLri.n;.] \vlh>. •iiniiiprc.-i.-iit in lliis Jiliate, i 
(•vrrfluwi.l Willi ri^i' :.l''.: :■! :■■ iiu'.'''-ii"ii l'i:it K:iiis;is 
bad a|i|ili<'J for iulini<-; ■ i ■ .i .-'■•: .u'.l. w iih m.-oli-rciil 
pliiiuo*. diBeliar-:oil til I ■ ■ -..i ' ii,i;:."i ■•! i'- ~|i.t.;Ii, I 
Aow U|Riii lnr rcprr.v.ii' il;.. . .1 ',! l!i n i,,. u lui ;h..|i1c. 
TJiiro w;i> III) c.\ir:u;i;:.iin-.- ul' ilic ;iii . li i ;ii:iry 

deUai.- ulmh he- «li(l iiMl ri|H'.il; iiorwii I j. -ilil'f 

deviannii (loiii ilii' Irtilli wlm-ji lie iliil i' t n \ n'l .-^o 

niucb 01 pujisioii. I am glad to add, as ii> -a. Imn ii' m ilic 
iiU»|ii(-iuu uriiiichiioiiiil alx-rralioii. Uut llu- Hi iiaturluiKlics 
IiO(iiiii° wbii-li III' dues no; disfigure— Willi rir.ir, soiiiuluiics 
of |>nn>-ipl<-, souioUineB of fac-t. He tallows an inca|(in-ily I 
Of accuracy. wlieUier in ulalin;; tlie Constinilinn or in stMtiri'e 
the law, wlifUierin llie detaiNof MaIl^lirs or the diver.-iniis 
of tclKilarxliip. llu cannot 0|ic liJ:< iikhiiIi, lint out tlirre 
Awn tiliindcr. i^un-lv he on-;!!! to be liniiiliar with tin- lilc 
of Kranklin ; ami vil'ln- i<lV"rr.-.l t()tli.> liun-rli,.!,! iliarai- 
ler, Willie uiiiii-.; l\^ au'i m ii( inr laili>rs iii I'.ii^Maial. a- 
■hove Miipiemu : iii.iltiii- ua-i|.)a"-tliat lir ini-lil i;iM- pnint 
lo a l»Nc c<.iilrii.-l n.iiIi lia a:;iiit i.l Kan.as— iii>t liiiouiriL' 
Uiat, huwever llii\ in i> ilillVr in i;i'|iiiin aial lanir. in Ilii- 
etiK-ncme lh<-) arV aliiii' : thai IVaiiklin, when intni!-ticl 
Willi Ihc iwllliiin of .MasM.i-liii-. lis |(i,y. was nssaiilti-il hy a 
fLiuJ-luouiticd HpeaJtir, uhiT.- iii- cuiili'l not lir lii'Mrd in di' 
Kn«c, luid dciiou;ic.-d a a • lln.l," .ven iis the afepiit of 
Kanxiu han biTii assanlliil uii tins Hour, anil deiioiineed lis , 
a -lor^^T.' And let not tin- vaniiy of ih'' Senator he in- ' 
•piK d hy Iliu jMirallil witli llie lirili.«li htaltsinoii of that : 
4lJ>y ; fur il u only in huHUiily to Ireedum Uial any parallel 
can tw ri'dignized. j 

" Hul il i» asaiuiit tlic people of Kan»aii tliiu the sorifiliil- | 
<tif« of the Hi-naior are |uirliciilarly niimseil. t'omini;, as ' 
lie aonounci-«, • from a Stale' — ay.cir.l'Min Soiilli Carolina 
—be luma with lordly difigiinl fmiu tliiH ii.wly-loriindeoin- , 
niunily, wliicli In- will not reciyiiize ev.-n as 'u liuilv- ' 
p.iliU'-.' I'my, hir, liyuhat litli- dors he imliilne In tli'is 
r-fOlUIII.' Hon lir frii.l the liistory of Mhe Stale- Wlljeh |„. 
rrprcMniii .' He caniioi Mirely liave foruoitin lis hhainefnl 
Jiuiiccilily from Slnvrr\ . e,>nles«ed Ihrmifilioiil the Kevolii- 
Uun, followed by il« more slianiefiil nnhUiiipnoiiK for Slavery 
hlnep. He eaiihot Iinvc forKoiien it« wretched persiHtence j 
m Uic flavc uade a.i ihe very apple of iu ejc, and the con- 1 



dition of its partieipatioii in the Union. He cannot have 
forgotten its Coiisiiiution , which is republican only in name, 
coiitinning power in Ihe hands of the few, and founding the 
qualirieutious of its le<_'islators on ' a settled I'rechold estate 
and ten negroes.' .And yet the Senator, to whom that 
' State' has in pan coinniiiloil the gtiardianship of its good 
name, instead of inoviim, with backward treading steps, 
to cover its nakedness, rushes forward, in the very ecstasy 
of madness, to e.\po>e it by provoking a comparison with 
Kansas !"' 

Now, Mr. President, I am going to state a prop- 
osition which will startle the Senate: what he 
here undertakes to quote as the constitution of 
South Carolina, in reference to the eligibility of 
members of the Legislature, is not to be found ill 
it at all. How did he bring it in in response to 
any speech of mine > He has sworn in his affi- 
davit that what he said was fairly in response to 
the speeches which I had made. I put tne ques- 
tion to Senators, and I shall pause for their sen- 
tence: how dare he,trom anything in my speeches, 
put his finger — bis profane finger — upon the con- 
stitution' of South Carolina.' Is that a response 
to anything which I said? My sjjeeches horefbfore 
delivered are unon record, and can be referred to. 
I neither alluaed to the constitution of South 
Carolina, nor did I mention South Carolina in 
the whole debate; and yet in his affidavit he says 
that all these are fairly referable as a response 
to the remarks of the Senator from South Caro- 
lina! What he has quoted here is not in tlie 
constitution of South Carolina; and when he un- 
dertakes to subject me to the severity of his crit- 
icisms, as a blunderer in the statements of law and 
constitution, let him stand convicted of one of 
two things — either that he did not read the con- 
stitution of South Carolina himself, and adopted 
it from others, or that, if he read it, he could not 
understand it. I intend to dwell upon this point 
with a view to convict him — not that I am going 
to vindicate the constitution of South Carolina, 
but 1 will convict this rhetorical jurist — this man 
who undertakes to sit on the tripod, and publish 
the oracles of Delphi, to sit upon me as a lawyer! 
My God, what have I come to ! A man who 
never managed a case (as far as I know) in court, 
to sit on my-self who have been thirty-five years 
engaged in law, either in appearing at the bar, or 
expounding it on the bench ! 

1 have never delivered a judgment on a ques- 
tion of law here, as a member of the Committee 
on the Judiciary, whether I have made the ma- 
jority or the minority report, when that Senator 
fias not concurred with me; or if he differed it has 
iieen on sectional questions on which he has been 
overruled by the overwhelming authority of the 
Senate. Yet, a man who has agreed with me 
always — and that is the only bau sign about it 
[laughter] — undertakes to sit in judgment on my 
legal aUainments ! If his authority is worth any- 
thing, it is with me, for he has concurred with 
me. On all the contested-election cases, we have 
agreed, except, perhaps, in the Phelps case. There 

! he may have differed from me; but if he did the 
Senate overruled him. 

! That, however, is not the question which I was 
apj)roaching. 1 said that what he stated in ref- 
erence to the constitution of South Carolina was 
not in resnon.se to anything wliich had fallen from 
me, and tnat there was no such thing to be found 
in the constitution of South Carolina as he has 
quoted. 1 will read the clause: 
" No person shall be eligible to a scat in the House of 



Representatives, unless he is a free white man, of the age 
of twenty-one years, and liath been a citizen and residetit 
of this State three years previous to his election. If a resi- 
dent in tl»e election district, he shall not be eligible to a 
seat in the House of Representatives, unless he be legally 
seized and possessed, in his own right, of a settled freehold 
estate of five hundred acres of land, and ten negroes ; or of 
a real estate of the value of one hundred and fifty pounds 
sterling, clear of debt. If a non-resident, he shall be le- 
gally seized and possessed of a settled freehold estate 
tliereiu of the value of five hundred pounds sterling, clear 
of debt." 

I venture to say that nearly half of the mem- 
bers of the Legislature of South Carolina, partic- 
ularly those who come from the towns and cities, 
do not own a negro at all; and very few of them, 
as my colleague knows, own five hundred acres 
of land. Merchants do not want it; lawyers do 
not want it. The tenure by which they hold 
their offices is mainly by the latter clause, which 
the Senator left out, that a man to be eligible to a 
seat in the House of Representatives must own 
property to the amount of one hundred and fifty 
pounds sterling, clear of debt. That is a little 
■over seven hundred dollars. Now I have got 
him; I call on Senators to convict him. There 
is but one verdict which can be rendered. He 
has gone out of the way to assail the constitution 
of South Carolina, and, in assailing it, he is guilty 
of the worst of all faults. I cannot conceive of a 
worse predicament than his, who, professing pe- 
dantic accuracy, and sitting in judgment on the 
quotations of others, is reduced to the alternative 
of admitting that he never read what he quoted, 
or, if he had read it, could not understand it, or 
garbled it. 

Again, sir, he says the constitution of South 
Carolina is republican only in form. I say there 
is no State in the Union whose constitution gives 
a more enlarged right of suffrage. I have not the 
provision now before me, but I can state what 
my colleague knows to be the fact, that every free 
white man of South Carolina, of the age of twenty- 
one, has a right of suffrage, provided he pays 
seventeen shilhngs of tax. I may be mistaken, 
perhaps, in the amount. 

Mr. EVANS. There is no tax at all required, 
if he is a resident, and has resided six months in 
the election district. Then he is entitled to vote 
without property qualification. 

Mr. BUTLER. If he has resided there for six 
months, no property qualification is required; 
but, if he has not resided so long, he must have 
a very small amount of land. Our people do not 
even pay a poll-tax. Here is the provision of 
the South Carolina constitution: 

" Every free white man of the age of twenty-one years, 
being a citizen of this State, and having resided therein two 
years previous to the day of election, and who hath a free- 
bold of fifty acres of land, or a town lot of which he liath 
been legally seized and possessed at least six months be- 
fore such election, or, not having such freehold or town lot, 
hath been a resident in the election district in which he 
offers to give his vote six months before the said election, 
and hath paid a tax the preceding year of three shillings 
sterUng towards the support of this government, shall have 
a right to vote for a member or members to serve in eitlier 
branch of the Legislature, for the election district in which 
lie holds such property, or is so resident." 

The Senator has presumed to characterize her 
constitution as republican only in form, when it 
has the freest and most enlarged right of suf- 
frage of any State in the Union. I grant you 
that, when the Legislature comes into operation 
ujjder the constitution, there are conservative 



elements which, I thank God, have withstood the 
wild feeling of what is called the progress of the 
times; but it does not become me to allude to 
them now. 

I come next to an allegation which, if the 
Senator were here, I think he would not look me 
in the face when I repeat, and that is, his inso- 
lent and untrue charge of the " shameful imbe- 
cility" of South Carolina during the war of the 
Revolution in consequence of slavery. Sir, in- 
gratitude is the monster of vices, and when it ia 
associated with injusticc,itoughttobe condemned 
by the consuming mdignation of even those who 
rnay to-morrow be our adversaries. What are 
the facts? The news of the battle of Lexington 
was carried to Charleston by express; and the 
very day they received the intelligence the Liberty 
men, as they were called, broke open the arsenals 
and distributed the arms. It was but a few days 
afterwards before Boston sent a vessel to South 
Carolina for bread and wine. We sent them, I 
think, p,500 worth of provisions, and seventy 
barrels of wine— the Maine liquor law did not 
prevail in Boston at that time. [Laughter.] We 
gave them bread ; and, I answer for it. South Caro- 
lina has never asked pay for her hospitality. She 
would never brook the thought of asking pay for 
the bread she poured out upon her countrymen — 
countrymen they were, sir. Massachusetts was 
without powder then, and we furnished her with it. 

Here I will say, lest I forget it, that the battles 
of Lexington and Bunker Hill in the Revolution, 
I regard as the battles of Marathon and Salamis. 
They gave the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
an immortality for commencing the glorious con- 
test which has resulted in the independence of 
these United States; and I shall be the last man 
to. touch the laurel crown which grows from the 
blood that enriched the soil upon which those 
battles were fought. The very powder that was 
used after the battle of Bunker Hill was furnished 
by South Carolina. Here is the entry, not only 
in the history of South Carolina, but in the his- 
tory of Massachusetts. In Ramsay's History of 
the Revolution in South Carolina, volume l,page 
43, you will find: 

"At the time all these military preparations were making, 
the whole quantity of powder in the province did not ex- 
ceed three thousand pounds. The people not originally 
designing a military opposition, no care was taken to pro- 
vide stores; but now, reduced to the alternative of fighting 
or submitting, extraordinary methods were taken to obtain 
a supply. The inhabitants of East Florida having never 
joined in measures of opposition to Great Britain, the ports 
of that province were open for the purposes of trade. 

" Twelve persons, in which number were included Cap- 
tains Tempirere, Cochran, Statter, Tufts, Joyner, Messrs. 
Tebatit, Williamson, and Jenkins, authorized by the Coun- 
cil of Safety, sailed from Charleston for that coast, and, 
by surprise, boarded a vessel near the bar of St. Augustine, 
though twelve British grenadiers of the 14th regiment 
were on board. They took out fifteen thousand pounds of 
powder, for which they gave a bill of exchange to the cap- 
tain ; and, having secured a safe retreat to themselves, by 
spiking the guns of the powder vessel, they set sail for Car- 
olina. Apprehending that they should be pursued, they 
steered for Beaufort. From that place they came by tlj« 
inland navigation, and delivered their prize to the Council 
of Safety, whilst their pursuers were looking for them at 
the bar of Charleston. This seasonable supply enabled the 
people of South Carolina to oblige their suffering brethren 
in Massachusetts, who, though immediately exposed to the 
British army, were in a great measure destitute of tliat ne- 
cessary article of defense." 

In a book published in Boston, entitled "Deal- 
ings with the Dead," I find these entries: 



8 



" Oar «wthwB eon f rfe iai M are f muled to civility, be- 
rst* Thfv are iB«i aM hr«bren ; aiid ibcy a^e enuUed 

.. ) ,...-w .V...,, „< of Boiton. because we 

". iii..fi II would I't slianie 



which has ever been fought in the southern por- 
tion of the Confederacy, was fought by southern 

slaveholders from Marj'land, Virginia, South Car- 

rtti, liave presumed ID be ' ' olina, North Carolina, and Georgia. They were 

I us .!oilie thing ^deccnter ' exclusively southern troops. In the face of these 

facts, the Senator said the imbecility of the South, 

arising from slaver\', was such that they could 

not fight their battles without aid. 

Shame ! I call upon the shade of Hancock and 
Adams to look down and reprove a degenerate 
son who can thus invade the very sanctuary of 
the history which has given them immortality. 

Do you think that, sir, by this remark I re- 
proach the troops of New England? No, sir. 
When Yorktown surrendered, there was not a 
New England regiment there; I have a list of 
the troops who were present. Rut because I say 
that southern troops and those from Pennsylva- 
nia alone engaged in these distinguished battles, 
do I reproach the troojis of iMassachusetts ? God 
forbid ! They were under the command of Wash- 
ington at the time when he went to Yorktown, 
cut I and, as was his duty, he sent them to defend the 
vulnerable points of New York and Boston. 

Now I will make a remark which I hope the 
Senate will remember: Notwithstanding their 
relative numbers compared with the pay list of 
New England, you may take the fighting days — 
if you have a mind to compute it as you would 



ilie fKuili are notoriously 

.j^i-i'rupliically, cllildren of 

."'11 ol llie .Massachusetu 

■, .ii,i, liM, is truly appliea- 

, , , ■ lery kifU, but, in their fury, 

. irj to uphold the South, in tlic 

. r.il « rong, l>ecau*e llioy gave us 

I- thev certainly did, than 

. :. favorably lor Uie suitor 

l.iyii aAer the |>orl bill went 
_■ xva« liild at Charleston, 
-piril* were the Trapiers 
1 the Clarkt^ons, the Gads- 

j; Jay ; and resolution-: were 

,.,\c and eyuipailiy I'ur ilie iiihab- 

■ \:^, 1774. Saturday last Captain 

. and brought three hundred and 

■ • ifuiu Jji.uth Carolina, to be sold, 

llu.-loii.a|ire<eMltolhesufT'Lre 

:•■ sliippcd lor tJie like 

f<v orabolition go forward in a dianified and i 

l.ii us argue ; ujid, so far as we rightfully . 

.:-]aie. 1." t Ui bring tlic whole world's' 
•he work of enianeipation. Rut let us not 1 
rate those who are, to all intents and pur- 
lon, as e.rtiiinly an i( Uiey lived just over , 

:i>', uirte.-(d of Alason and Uivuu's. Sueh 



...iu:uiiiiigated«'co(nngandabuse, aswo too oftenj] labor— you may take the fighting days during 

are equally ungracious, ungeutleinanly, aud uu- 1 which the troops of South Carolina wei-c engaged, 

-' " 1 1 and in the computation the balance will be found 

The Senator says that the southern States, in l| greatly against Massachusetts. If you have a 

fontcquencc of slavery, betrayed during the rev- i mind to draw some other test— if you wish to 

olutionary war a " shameful Vmbecilitv?' I chal-j| test the question of sacrifice, and measure it by 

Icn^c him to the truth of history. There was i blood, South Carolina has poured out hogsheads 



not~a battle fought south of the Potomac which 
was not fought by southern troops and slave- ' 
holders, even if you choose to exclude Pennsyl-j 
vania, which was at that time a slaveholding 
State. Muhlenberg'3 continental re";iment wasi 
always with them, and I love to allude to it; but 
not a New England squad, company, or regiment 
ivcr passed the Potomac; and yet the Senator 
wtya that but fornorthcrn aid the soutliern States ' 
could not have sustained themsclvefi. ] 

Sir, who fought the battle of King's Mountain ? ; 
1 n<it fought by anybody in ]iny. Patriots 

• it, but they never received a dollar. That ; 
iimde an impression, perhap.s, the most 
p iiiirkable of any during the war. It turned the | 
tide of events. Who fought the battle of Cow-j 
pens? There was none in that battle from the j 
north of Maryland. Tlie commander in that bat- 1 
lie was Daniel Morgan; the hero of the day was,! 
porhaps.John Eager Howard. Colonel Wash- j 
in^ton, command" r of ihu cavalry, and Pickens, a 
rjuzeii of South Carolina, and one of the lieroesof! 
the war, commanded the mihtia, and they never! 
ahrntik from their duty. It has i)een said of the 
Soutli Curulina militiu, during the revolutionary 
war, lliBt they were only raw troops, who stood 
to their trniiH tind position , wliem-ver they were 
muitcred into th<; service, and called upon toper- 
form duly. Who fouglilthe buttle of Ilobkirk's 
Hill? General Greene wa« tlie commander; and 
he nflTwardH b.rumc a slaveholder, and, of his 
f.wn rlioir/, hveil and died in a southern Stale, 
:: frieiidH nml comrude.s in arms. Who 
! the battle of Eutnw ? Was there any New 
iiid repiment, or com]iany, or squad there? 
.Nut out. That battle, the niobt ditliiiguished 



of blood where gallons have been poured out by 
Massachusetts. 

In proof of this I give a list of battles fought 
in South Carolina, and each was a bloody battle: 

Rattle of Fort Moultrie. 

Battle of Siono. 

Siege of Charleston. 

Battle of Camden. 

Rattle of Hanging Rock. 

Battle of Musgrove's Mill. 

Rattle of liiackslocks. 

Rattle of Georgetown, and the battle at Black 
Wings; by Marion. 

Battle of King's Mountain. 

Rattle of Cowpens. 

Rattle of Fish Dam Ford; by Sumpter. 

Battle at Ninety-six. ., ,» 

Battle at Fort Galphin. 

Battle at Fort Watson. 

Rattle at Fort Moll. 

Battle at Ilobkirk's Hill. 

Rattle of Granby. 

Battle of Cedar Spring. 

Buttle of Hammond's Store. 

Battle of auinby. 

Rattle of Eutaw. 

Rattle of Rocky Mount. 

Rattle of Port Royal. 

Rattle of Tulafiniiy. 

Rattle of Coosahatchie. 

Rattle of Waxham settlement; between Beau- 
fort and Tarleton. 

Rattle of Cloud's Creek. 

Rattle at Hays's station. 

Rloody battle of Kettle Creek; fought by Gen- 
eral Pickens. 



Battle of Houck's defeat. 

Bbody battle of Twelve-mile Creek; in which 

Salvndore foil. 

These were all fou2;ht in South Carolina, and 
in which South Carolinians were engaged, and 
were bloody battles. In addition there were al- 
most daily skirmishes fought by Marion and 
Sumpter. 

Butldo not blame Massachusetts, for I have said 
she had glory enough, and she was covered with 
glory enough by taking the bold stand which she 
did in putting the ball of revolution in motion; but, 
when the Senator undertakes to cast reproaches 
on the history of South Carolina, he will have to 
take hard comparisons. She got bread from her 
comrade. The man who now reproaches South 
■Carolina, as I said a little while ago, is a degen- 
erate son reproaching the dearest and nearest 
comrade of his mother. You cannot get over the 
errors he has committed in history; you cannot 
obviate the malignity with which the arrow has 
been shot. Whether he shot it with the reckless 
aim of one who had his hand upon the bow, and 
directed the shaft conscious that it had been dipped 
in the poison of others, I know not; but I have 
unmasked him; I have detected and exposed the 
man wiio charges me with error, and such a pro- 
clivity to error that I cannot observe the line of 
truth without such deviations as to bring on me 
the censure, not of one intentionally guilty of 
falsehood, but one who, under the gust and whirl- 
wind of passion, cannot observe the line of truth. 
I have detected him; I have exposed him; and 
now I demand of the Senate a verdict of guilty. ! 
i pause, sir. 

But now, since he has given his testimony, I 
will ask that the testimony of another man may 
be read — the opinion of Daniel Webster with re- 
gard to the revolutionary history of South Caro- 
lina and Massacliusetts. 

The Secretary read the following extract from 
Mr. Webster's reply to Mr. Hayne, delivered 
January 21, 1830: 

" Then, sir, the gentleman has no fault to find with these 
Tecently-proniulsated South Carolina opinions. And, cer- 
tainly, he need liave none ; for his own sentiments, as now 
advanced, and advanced on reflection — as far as I have 
been able to comprehend them— go the full length of all 
these opinions. I propose, sir, to say something on these, 
•and to consider how far they are just and constitutional. 
Before doing that, however, let me observe, that the eulo- 
eiuni pronounced on the character of the State of South 
Carolina, by the honorable gentleman, for her revolutionary 
and other merits, meets my hearty concurrence. I shall 
not acknowledge that the honorable member goes before 
me in regard for whatever of distinguished talent, or dis- 
tinguished character, South Carolina has produced. I 
-claim part of the honor— I partake in the pride, of her great 
names. I claim thein for countrymen — one and all. The 
Laurenses, the Rutlcdges, the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, 
the Marions— Americans all— whose fame is no more to be 
hemmed m by State lines than their talents and patriousm 
were capable of being eircuniscribed within the same nar- 
row limits. In their day and generation they served and 
honored the country, and tlie whole country; and their 
renown is of the treasures of the whole country. Him, 
whose honored name the gentleman himself bears — does he 
esteem me less capable of gratitude for his patriotism, or I 
eympathy for his sufferings, than If his eyes had first opened j 
upon the light of Massachusetts, insteadof South Carolina? | 
Sir, does he suppose it in his power to exhibit a Carolina 
name so bright as to produce envy in my bosom ? No, sir, 
increased gratification and delight, rather. I thank God 
that, if I am gifted with little of the spirit which is able to 
raise mortals to the skies, I have yet none, as I trust, of that 
other spirit which would drag angels down. When I shall 
be found, sir, in my place here, in the Senate, or elsewhere, 
o sneer at public laerit, because it happens to spring up 



beyond the little limits of iny own State or neighborhood ; 
when I refuse, for any such cause, or for any cause, the 
homage due to American talent, to elevated patriotism, to 
sincere devotion to liberty and the country; or, if I see an 
uncommon endowment of Heaven — if I see extraordinary 
capacity and virtue in any son of the South— and if, moved 
by local prejudice or gangrened by State jealousy, I gel up 
here to abate the tithe of a hair from his just character and 
just fame, may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ! 

" Sir, let me recur to pleasing recollections — let me in- 
dulge in refreshing remembrance of the past — let me remind 
you that, in early times, no States cherished greater har- 
mony, both of principle and feeling, than Massachusetts 
and South Carolina. Would to God that harmony might 
again return ! Shoulder to shoulder they went through the 
Revolution — hand in hand they stood round the administra- 
tion of Washington, and felt his own great arm lean on 
them for support. Unkind feeling, if it exist, alienation and 
distrust, are the growth, unnatural to such soils, of false 
principles since sown. They are weeds, the seeds of which 
that same great arm never scattered." 

Mr. BUTLER. Sir, Daniel Webster is a Dorie 
statue upon a colossal pedestal raised by the 
hands of patriots— raised by the hands of states- 
men, a pedestal which is imperishable as longas 
the achievements of heroes, patriots, and states- 
men can be transmitted to posterity by history. 
His tribute to South Carolina is worth something. 
It is the tribute of a statesman and an orator — of 
a man who could lift himself above the bigotry, 
and even prepare to be crushed under the wheel 
of wild fanaticism. It is such a tribute as was 
paid by an orator like Pericles, who had guided 
the helm of State, who had an Athenian spirit of 
patriol.ism, who was an orator and a statesman. 
Who is he that now gives a different opinion of 
South Carolina.' Is it not a Cleon — one whose 
warfare is to assail his antagonist by crimination, 
calumny, and private .slander— a man who draws 
his similes from obscene sources, and always 
thinks he has conquered when he has mortified 
and hurt the feelings of his adversary > 

Sir, when I look at the evidence to which I 
have adverted — when I allude to tiie opinions pro- 
nounced between the two gentlemen — between 
Mr. Webster and the Senator from Massachu- 
setts, who is absent — I can well say, 

" Look upon that, picture, and then upon this" — 
I will not finish the quotation; I shall say noth- 
ing in this debate but what I believe to be true. 
If I were to undertake to compare the Senator 
from Massachusetts with the coarseness of Cleon 
in some of his similes and his grossness in some 
of his attacks on his adversary — I mean in point 
of taste — I might do injustice to my own crit- 
icism, because I believe the Senator is a man who 
understands the use of language— a gentleman 
who has gone back to classic fountains, and in 
that respect I separate him from Cleon, but other- 
wise not at all. Let the young men and boys 
who hear me go and read the life of Cleon, and, 
when they do, let them rend the notice which 
even Grote attaches to it, the author who has 
taken the most favorable view of that demagogue 
—who could never lift himself above the local 
prejudice that surrounded him, and always pan- 
dered to it in order to obtain a conquest over his 
rival, who was in power, and was maintaining the 
honor and dignity of his country. 

Now, I come to another branch of the subject, 
and it is, I confess, the sorest one of all. The 
Senator has made a very grave charge upon John 
Rutledge— not upon South Carohna in that point 
of view. The facts in relation to that transac- 
tion are these; When General Lincoln was called 



10 



to ihe command of the southern army, Prevost 
was in possi-ssion of Savannah, and Goorgia in 
fact was under British authority. When Lin- 
coln took command of tlie souiliern troops, he 
conceived the bold experiment of crossing the 
Savannah river and reclaiming Georgia. His 
wily adversary, who was in Savannah, took ad- 
vantage of his being at Augusta, about one hun- 
dred and fifty miles above, crossed the river at 
Siivannah, and made his way to the gules of 
Charleston. When he reached Charleston, there 
were but about six hundred troops under the com- 
mand of Moultrie, and as many under Pulaski. 
He had about four thousand. The militia, and, , 
I believe, even the women, kept watch tlie whole] 
night for fear the town would be stormed. In, 
order to gain time, a parley was proposed the | 
next day. Rutledge sent three dilVerent commis- , 
aions. He knew that Lincoln would be upon , 
the British if he could only detain them for a day. 
That parley was regarded by his friends as a , 
stratagem. Some of liis enemies were disposed 
lo assail him for it. Whilst they were on that! 
very parley, Moultrie said that Rutledge had no 
right to toiich the garrison; he himself was com- 
niander-in-ci»ief, and Rutledge could do nothing 
as Governor to comply with the terms which, for 
appearance sake, he had proposed. Here is the 
notice of it by the historian: 

" It was prt^<uiiii(i by tin' L'Jirri.'on that General Lincoln, 
will) tlie ;iniiy uiidi r III- oiiiiiiiaiKl, was in close purtiiit ol' 
Gcniral I'ri V(i>t. but liis |Mrii>f Mtiiaiion was unknown to 
every (Mr-on within tlir lims. 'J'n t:aiii tiiin' in siicli cir- 
cumstances was a matter ol prcai cum-, ijut ih .-. A wlnile 
day was Ihcreliure spent in sending; aiici rrcM\Hiu liar's. 
Commissioners from llie f;nrri-.on ai i l,.;ilc-i on were in- 
ilitv (111! ill'.' Il:e w ;ii lirtwecn 
11(1 that the (picstion, whether 
the State shall belonp to (Jreat lliitain or remain one or' the 
United Stiitcs, be dclcrniined by Ihe treaty ofpciu-e between 
lliese Powers.' " — Ramsuy'i JJistory, vol. 2, p. ^7. 

Whilst they were upon that parley, it happened 
that Lincoln came up and drove ofl" Prevost. 
That very proposition of Rutledge resulted in the 
safety of Charleston. Some of his enimies have 
Baid that the terror of his situation was so great, 
the women and children being in the town, with 
only twelve hundred iroojis to defend it, that he 
was willing to capitulate on such terms as would 
Bavc innocence from the dangers of a storm. His 
friends have given it a diflerent complexion. Be 
that as it may, everybody knows tluit the Gov- 
ernor of South Carolina at that lime had no power 
lo make such an engagcinmt. Prevost knew it 
ju8l as well as anyboiJy else. If he had agreed 
toil, I presume Rutledge could have drawn out 
of it the next day, on the ground that there was 
no authority to make the stipulation. It was 
during the lime when this tnatter was under con- 
sultation, that Lincoln came up and drove ofl" 
Prevost, and fought the celebrated battle of Stono, 
so much spoken of in the southern country. 

But suppose that John Rutledge coultl have 
eubjected them to the terms which the gentleman 
has censured — for he is not only a superior lawyer 
to sil in judgment on everybody else's law knowl- 
edge, but it appears he is a military man, though 
I never heard of it before — Kupjjo.se that John 
Rutlcdgo Imd stipulated, as far as he could stijiu- 
lute, that the people of Charleston should be 
remitted to British protection as long as they ob- 
gcrvi.d their parol, was it anything more than his 
own countryman, General Lincoln, did, on the 



22d of May of the following year .' General Lin- 
coln was severely censured for his act; but it was 
I done from feelings of humanity. He could have 
I evacuated the city of Charleston, and saved his 
, army, as Washington did at Philadelphia, but, 
\ instead of that, he agreed to stand by the houses 
of the women and children in Charleston at all 
hazards, and run the risk of the censure pro- 
nounced on him by military men. .He capitu- 
lated; and what were the terms of the cajiitulu- 
tion.' That the militia should be under liritish 
protection, and should not be disturbed, in person 
or property, as long as they observed their parol. 
That was the act of Lincoln. He could do no 
more. The military men who were under his 
command were subject to be exchanged as pris- 
oners of war. The Senator has gone out of hia 
way to pronounce a judgment against Rutledge, 
to which his own countiyman has been actually 
liable. I will give you an incident to show the 
difference between the taunting injustice and ma- 
lignity which prevail now, and the chivalry which 
prevailed then. When they came to the terms 
of capitulation, Lincoln, with the proud spirit of 
a military man, insisted that he should leave 
Charleston beating the American march, with his 
colors unfolded, his flag furled, Clinton lold him, 
" No, sir; we have reduced you lo our own terms, 
and we intend to degrade you; you are rebels, and 
deserve none of these honors at our hands." 

When Yorktown was taken, who was delegated 
to prescribe the terms of capitulation.' John 
Laurens, of whom it has been said that a daring 
courage was the least of his accomplishments, 
and an excess of it his greatest fault. When Lau- 
rens was called upon by General Washington, 
who behaved on that occasion with a delicacy and 
propriety which history and poetry ought to com- 
memorate, he told Laurens, "Sir, as your city 
surrendered to Clinton, I delegate to you the au- 
thority to prescribe the terms on which this sur- 
render shall be made." Cornwallis said to him, 
" These are hard terms to require us to go out 
with folded colors, and to beat the Turk's march, 
a neutral march." Laurens said, "There shall 
not be a dot of an r or a cross of a t in the terms 
of capitulation at Yorktown which was not oli- 
serveii at Charleston. " To make it more delicate 
to Lincoln, on whom the shade of censure had 
somewhat passed for his conduct at the siege of 
Charleston, Laurens said that it was proper to 
select Lincoln to receive the sword from Corn- 
wallis, as he had surrendered the sword to Clinton. 
You will see him in the foreground of the picture 
in the Rotunda. There was chivalry , sir — a chiv- 
tilry peculiar to the days in which it was exhib- 
ited. Is such conduct as that to be under the 
censure of a rhetorical fabricator at this day.' It 
is hard lo bear — it is unjust in itself. 

Now, sir, I have done with these topics. I 
have not vindicated the history of South Caro- 
lina. I ask ihc Senate to bear me testimony, 
that I have not gone into this matter with a view 
lo vindicate her. She does not need it. Adopt- 
ing the language of Daniel Webster, I may say: 
" There is South Carolina; there she stands; slie 
speaks for herself; she needs no eulogy;" she 
cannot be injured by the detraction of one who is 
under an inlluencc not of justice, truth, or honor. 
Having finished with these thrusts at the con- 
stitution of South Carolina, and at her history and 



Ill 



to «f. .r .n iTiV 



a rttl 






w 

fr. • •« 

fI'M 

u.. 

of 

C-r... 

«[■: 






iia^c u( AUJ UUJi* 



it >» 

th< 

tcr. 

tfail 

u '. 

ih. 

It t 
fi. 

■4>ll. 

to I 

•iaN 

A- X 
Kr. 

Wt.i 

■li. 
• I> 



i-r «•« 



whrn thry «rv ntjinwanv 

I; M !! .1.. .-. .. . .-.../ 

"- auch an \ I 

■:. I d.. n. • I 



•re .> 

liul, air, llio SriMlor undrrtakos to ii«)r f 

tKCauW I tint. »J\... .i!.l li, r. •!,, ,■,.:,.•••.,■ 

righu uf ! 
Sl«Ua, la. 

I ahall oni I . . . I „ 

Work. Mr. 6»«.««;Ury, I U;^ y»»«r pviloii for 
a*kiiH( 70U lo remd auch « tiling u tJiu, but it u 
JTvur uu'v. li.i iiui.. 

^ 'I' MjcXlmcl f 

Mr I; 



12 



extent, and who are burning their fires until they ;! 
will be reduced to the caustic ashes of disappoint- 
mentand disgrace. I did notspeak of sectionalism 
in any other point of view. Sir, tlnre are men on 
this floor who I believe lionestly differ from me. i 
I would not make any personal allusion to them. 
Far from widening this controversy, the object of 
my speech was to ajipeuse public sentiment. In 
the course of it I ventured to say, what I bad 
never said before, tliat the man does not live 
who could look without concern at the ronse- 
quences of a separation of these States efTected I 
in blood. I remarked that I would not say there | 
was not intellii^tnce enough ultimately to form i 
new governments and make them a union of con- j 
federacies. Sir, in that speech I attempted to 
throw oil upon the troubled waters. My friends ] 
in some measure blamed me for the tone of my 
remarks. The so-called reply was already in the 
gap, the poisonous sap behind, and the Senator i 
had to use his speech as a conduit to pour it out j 
on me and on the country, when he had loss oc- il 
caaion than was presented by any speech which Ij 
I ever before made. Anybody who says we are jj 
incapable of preserving free institutions,! should 
be inclined to consider a slanderer on free insti- 1! 
lutions; but I will never agree to live in any Gov- ,1 
eminent that has not some operative and enforci- 1' 
b!e provisions of a constitution to preserve my ' 
rights. If the Government were as it formerly i 
was, South Carolina and Massachusetts having 
a common interest, do you think the Senator; 
could arise as an adversary to be applauded by 
his people ? There was a time, sir, when his peo- ' 
pie would have disgraced him forthat very speech, j 
At this day, 1 do not say they will acquit my ; 
kinsman; I'dare say they will not; but the time is | 
coming when there will be but one opinion — that |j 
that is the most mischievous speech which hash 
ever been delivered in this country, and has in-' 
volved more innocent persons. If the contest;) 
goes on upon such issues as it makes, blood mu.st j! 
follow. 1 do not look on any such scenes with I 
pleasure. I have not temper for them, though ' 
when a young man I might, perhaps, not have 
been indisposed to embark in the hazards of con- 
tests. 

Whilst upon this point, I may remark that 
Josiah Quincy, for whom I have heretofore had 
a great respect, says the Senator has not »one a 
hair's breadth beyond the line of duty ana truth. i| 
After my explanations here I hardly think he will ;! 
say so. He is the only man of high respectabil- jj 
ily whom I have yet seen or heard make such a 
declaration. He made it, too, with a reproach ;| 
tliat I was sorry to see escape from such a man. 
He said, alluding to the fracas in the Senate- 
house, not in the Senate, that it is only a part of | 
that tribe who carry bowie-knives and revolvers. 
Sir, I never wore a secret weajjon in my life. 1 
am not going to discuss the fact that I have used 
open weapons; and that is the only way I choose 
to deal, but that is not the way we can get them 
to deal with us. |j 

Unfortunately, I have had scenes of that kind || 
which I have regretted all my life to some extent, i 
I am mortified to hear such a man as Q,uincy >! 
making a charge upon a whole section, wiien 1 j 
question if there is a southern man in this House ji 
with a pistol or bowie-knife in his pocket. He ij 
hftB gone out of the way gratuitously to say that ]| 



we are of a " breed" who wear them as part of 
our dress. I am sorry to sec such things creep- 
ing into the public mind. They mortify me; 
they annoy me. 

But now I come to the resolutions of Massa- 
chusetts. I ask that they be read. 

The Secretary read them as follows: 

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHDSETTS. In thc yCOr 1856. 

Ri^solvcs concerning the recent nssEtult upon the Eloa. 
Charles Suniner, at VVashincton. 

Resolved by Ihe S^'nate and House of Rejn-esciitatives of 
the Commonuealth of Massachusetts, That we have received 
witli deep concern, information of the reeent\iolcnt assault 
committed in the Senati- «'li:iMitNr at \\a>hin','ton, upon 
the person of the Hon. t'harirs Stimni'r, imic i>f oiir t^ena- 
tors in Congress, by ProHlon S. Ilronks, a iiicinlior of the 
House of Representatives t'rom South ("aroliiia ;— an assault 
which no provocation could justify — brutal and cowardly ir» 
itself— a gross breach of pnrlranicntary privilege — a ruthless 
attack upon the liberty of speech— an outrage of the decen- 
cies of civilized life, and an indignity to the Comn>onwcaltb 
of Massachusetts. 

Resolved, That the Legislature of Massachusetts, in fha 
name of her free and enlightened jxjople, demands for her 
represciilatives in the N.itional ^(■gi^!aturc entire freedom 
of speech, and will iiiilmld tlii'rii in tlie proper exercise of 
that essential rn;ht ol Aiiiericaii eilizens. 

Resolicd, Thai we apjirove of .Mr. .Sumner's manliness 
and courage in his earnest and fearless declaration of free 
principles, and his defense of humart rights and free terri- 
tory. 

Resolved, That the Legislature of Massachusetts is impei^ 
atively called upon by the pl:uii.-i ,h. i;aes of duty, from a 
decent regard to the rights ot h r. ui/jm . md respect for her 
charactrr as a sovereign S;j , lo il. m iml, and the Legis- 
lauire of .Massachusetts hereb) ilucs dciuumi, of the national 
Congress, a prompt and strict uuesugation into the recent 
assault upon Senator Sumner, and the expulsion by the 
Iluuse of Representatives of Air. Brooks, of Smith (Carolina, 
and any other member concerned with him in said assault. 

Resolved, That his excelleney the (iuviTiKir he requested 
to transmit a copy of the foreirDinv; lesulvis t.i tln' I'residcnl 
of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Uepresenta- 
tives, and to each of the Senators and members of tho 
House of Representatives from tliis Commonwealth, in itw 
Congress of the l/nited States. 

noi;sE OK Rei'Ri:sentative8, 3/ai/29, 1856. 
CHARLES A. PHELPS, Speaker. 

In Senate, May 30, 1856. 
ELIHU C. BAKER, President. 



May 31, 1856. 
HENRY i. GARDINER. 



Approved. 



Secretary's Office, 

Boston, May 31, la'iS. 

! certify the foregoing to be a true copy of the originai 
resolves. 

Attest: FRANCIS HeWITT, 

Secretary of thc Commonwealth. 

Mr. BUTLER. These resolutions give rise to 
more serious reflection than anything which ha» 
occurred to me in my time. I have been in the 
Senate for ten years, and this is thc fir.'st occasion 
that I have ever seen one of the soven.'ign States 
of thc Union taking cognizance of matters which 
occurred in Congress, with a view to influence 
the judgment of Congress in relation to one of 
their members. This is the first occasion of the 
kind in the history of the country. It has been 
done from an ex parte view of the subji;e,t; for it 
is now very apparent that the resolutions of 
Massachusetts were introduced and passed with- 
out regard to thc evidence. These icsolutionn 
anticipated and assorted what may not be true — 
what the public may not think true — what the 
Senate may not think true — what thc House of 
Representatives may not think true; and yet the 
sovereign State of Massachusetts, before there 



la 



vaa any t^Mnimee, indietni mv reUtivt 

rumor — • m--— n*whi-h w*mjM ttmr- (■^Vm 

ford 

Ihe 

oft 

in - 



unJ- 
her 
don. 
P«i. 
beta 
■ tun 
now 

CiKk 

antl \'. 

Sh. 

b«<l 

lo^ 

wh. 



ercy 

Prrhap* 

Im ••• 

Mum- 
' rrnt 

""' 

Ihr s 
and ^A 

I., hn ..I., 

and ; , .. jl 

ofii>- ,,i la 

(hat |>. ■■> ;-. :, I nrn nol 

that a S< iiitior, iir ^ i' | will mv 

any »p.-, .-(-. . r .1 ,( ,,n iKm 

noi i- ,; s^-n- 

nt«ai> I ,rt< 

»hc I ^ ►,» I 

Ihr r. , ,^., 

yond > uM 



tM of « hbrl It bcromrt of avrrj 







1 kaua-. 

1 knov 

. thi* aab- 










:..f lu 


) L . 


rJ ( 


lom 
1. h« 

^ifV. rficld. 


'■-■< n' 


..^h , 


a W>M>r«kf 



141 



authority for mydnctrinp; for. thnusti Lord Chesterfield 
was a man of ?reat wit, he was undoubtedly far inferior 
in leamins, and what is more to the pur|K)se, in monarchical 
opinion, to the oclebratt'd writer iii whom my lord has now 
deUvertd the work by his authority. Dr. Johnson then 
eays"- 

Gentlinien may avail themselves of this, if they 
choose, when I come to anotlier part of this mat- 
ter. Dr. Johnson says, in the language put in 
the mouth of Lord Chesterfield: 

" One of the greatest blessings we enjoy — one of tlic 
greatest blessings a people, my lords, can enjoy, is liberty ; 
licentiousness is the alloy of liberty ; it is an ebultiiion — an 
excrescence ; it is a specie upon the eye of tlie political body, 
but which 1 can never touch but with a gentle, with a 
trembling hand, lest I destroy the body— lest 1 injure the 
eye ii|M>n which it is apt to appear. 

" There is such a connection between licentiousness and 
lil>eny, that it is not easy to correct the one without danger- 
ously wounding Uie other; it is cxtri'iacly hard to distiii- 
guisii the true liiuil between them ; like a changeable silk, 
we can easily see there are two ditlercnt colors, but we 
cannot easily discover where llie one ends, or where tlie 
Otlier begins." 

In a sul).sequent part of this celebrated forensic 
speech, delivered by Lord Erskinc, he goes on to 
show what is the h'berty of speech, and what is 
its limit. He says, by way of illustration, what 
is exactly apposite to this case: 

" I expect to hear, in answer to what I am now saying, 
much that will ollend me. My learned friend " — 

I do n<it call the Senator " my learned friend;" 
I make this periphrasis on that point — 

" My learned friend, from the difficulties of his situation, 
which! know from experience how to feel for very sin- 
cerely, may be driven to advance propu^itions which it may 
be my duly, wall iiiueli rreeilniii, to nply lo j and the law 
wUlsaiietMiii tluil I'reedoiii ; iHiiwiil luit the ends of justice 
be completely aii.-wered tiy my e\erei-;e of that right, in 
terms that are decent, and calculated to expose its defects ? 
or will my argument suffer, or will public justice be im- 
peded, because neither private honor and justice, nor pub- 
lic decorum, would endure my telling my very learned 
friend, because 1 differ from him in opinion, that he is a 
fool, a liar, and a scoundrel, in the face of the Court.'" 

If the Senator had said.in respectfullanguage, 
" We have been advi>rsaries on this subiecl; I 
differ from you; I think you have been guilty of 
great errors which deserve the censure of a par- 
liamentary speaker: and I intend to pronounce a 
censure, believing that I am right and you are 
wrong; I will detect you in the fallacies of your 
history; I will detect you in the errors of your 
law; I will expose those errors" — he would have 
had a right to do this, and in as strong language 
as he chose; but when he said almost in so many 
words, that my proclivity to error was such that 
I deviated from the truth in all these particulars, 
it is a libel in the very language of Mr. Erskine. 
If he were indicted for a libel to-morrow, could he 
claim his privilege under the Constitution, and 
would the courts DC precluded from deciding the 
(question whether it was a libel or not.' There is 
no one, perhaps, who has a higher ideal admira- 
tion for the liberty of speech and the liberty of 
thepress than I have. 

The liberty of speech and of the press is the 
great coiiKervaiive element of a Republic; it is to 
the political, what fire is to the material world, a 
subservient and affluent minister, when under the 
control of prudence and intelligence; but, when 
unchecked and unregulated, a consuming foe, 
withering and blu.siing everything along its path- 
way of ruin. Render freedom of speech tribu- 
tary to the proprieties, decencies, and restraints 
of social life, and you may crown it with all the 



ministries and supremacies of intellect and liberty, 
but rclea.se it fn m ihem, and it becomes a blind 
and maddened gia it of evil, tearing down the 
bulwarks of so uti order, and desecrating the 
very sanctuary of republican liberty. What 
would you think of a reckless man who should 
set fire to his own house, or shotild go about 
claiming the privilege of throwing his fire where- 
evcr he could among the most comliustibic ma- 
terials, and say he had the right to do so, on 
the ground that he was a freeman, and could do 
as he pleased. Away with such liberty! Lib- 
erty that is worth anything must be in the har- 
ness of the law. 

Liberty of speech and liberty of the press 
must have two restraints. The first is the high- 
est, which will always govern a class of men 
who cannot violate it — the oliligations of honor, 
decency, and justice. Another restraint upon 
licentiousness is that a man may pul)Iish and 
speak what he pleases with a knowledge that 
he is amenable to the tribunals of the law for 
what he has done. Congress cannot pass any 
statute to say that men shall not write against 
religion, or against the Government, or against 
individuals. Neither can Congress pass a hw, nor 
can any Slate pass a law depriving the tribunals 
of the country of the right of saying whether 
you have gone beyond the limits of liberty, and 
nave used your power, under that name, with 
criminal recklessness, with a licentious indiffer- 
ence to the feelings of individuals and the conse- 
quences upon society. 1 do not wish lo live in 
any community where it is otherwise. 

The press is losing its power, and it ought to 
lose it; for it is now beginning to be an engine 
of private revenge, and individual expression, 
instead of being a responsible organ of nublie 
opinion. Suppose I were to go to New York, 
and indict one of the editors there whom I could 
name, for the most atrocious libel that has ever 
been uttered upon the South. I will not name 
the editor, but he has uttered a sentiment akin to 
one whicli has been expressed by the Senator 
from Massachusetts. I saw in a New York 
paper — I have alluded to it heretofore — a state- 
ment that the southern Slates are too feeble and 
weak to take any part in a war — that all they can 
do is lo take charge of their negroes! It said 
that if a war should take place bi iween England 
and the United States, the English fleet would only 
have to go to the capes of the Chesapeake, and 
the effeminate inasters would be kept at home. 
Fifty thousand slaves, inured to toil, could be 
mustered into service, and they would have the 
power to put their masters to the sword; and 
when th(! declaration of peace should come, the 
result would be the freedom of the slaves ancj the 
proscription of the masters! Suppose I should 
go into the community where this libel was 
uttered, and indict a man for such a sentiment as 
this, what would be the consi quenee in the 
present state of i)iiblic opinion .' It is idle, worse 
than idle, to talk about that as a remedy. 

Liberty of the j)ress ! Sir, that man has franked 
twenty thousand of his speeches; and some of 
them, if I am not misinformed, were printed long 
before it was delivered. To bring him within the 
privileges of parliament is a mockery — a perfect 
mockery. 

Now, Mr. President, I approach another most 



»^ 



painful part of ihi* cn<i<- 
bad f.fmr>-T; for, God k' 
t>4» i»ir1, 0>>-re i« no "'•• 
my"* If htr>- nvrt'- ' 
now<xi<!'<i, if I ••ou 
and t(w honor ■■' 
aHiid^. Tt 
took , >»»-fof •• 

■Anlriir.- i.f v 

Mr i:. 

rnr.- I 

Irt hi I 
that 
I am ' 

n .1 •- 



a* Br 

hi< 



V md aa follova: 






iinioaa aubr 



J f.w^ iia 



and 
thi« ' 



.«-r . . U -,!., M,/iy nil nrm 

ita aiHiktft if 1 Cbi( u> 4«(«ik1 



hm 

• l.d 



ia \'.\i'i <■) L- 


■ a Liim 


• u'' 


vniild harr 


fi»fn 


hiiii 


Mill. air. 


•A 




*h.rr».r h 






nol don.- )i 






out !•■■ 






a (AIM 






ha». 






eomms in; i 


. i!>. S 




hia. Wh.i 


1 hr r 




am inform. 


.1. ' 




rrrrn- 






h^ h 






T ..• 







:!::-s)i.;. .'•• \\ h.M nil*;. 
I do nol now undrrtak- 



r. I 

• un»r 

tj aay. {■,,? f. ar of 

'l>ia I will aay, lluU 

' r ■ubniii lu inrah 

>inr. at ihia poinl, prldrd 
'O nf Mr. C'tAT, on wboa* 

,f inouuu liie tknal* •Jjcurncd.) 

Kair«T. Jmn* 13. \<,r,. 
Mr HI'TI.Kfl. Mr IVa.J. m. whiltl lam 

'■' '■•■ 1 to my fnrnd fr.,,., \ > ,. Mr f. .wi 
- that ihia d ' 

i'>dnr. I r. 



""K^r than 
'••> ihr qilrt- 

Irnl. tt ■■ n))Tioii« ihitl t 
I thiarontrov. f«v i" aiKh 

I »,,,-.,■ ,,..■'«• ..... 1,1. 1^ 



tu h;tu, aiiil I <io I), 
from till il u rtad. 



id Ih.- rxir ; ihQ 

k which 1 ■ . , 1 , .isiont 

>(in(eii«l U aay where II cumra 11 fmm Mnii««rhu>rii« viil nrrarni <)ii<-««iona hrf« 
U for the conaidcrauoa of ui« Scnatr, aad I ma^ 



16 



say for the consideration of Congress, of a char- I 
acter never presented before. 

I had yesterday spoken of those resolutions 
only in one point of view — so far as they de- 
nounced the assault of my friend and relative, 
Mr. Bkooks, as a violation of the freedom of |j 
debate. I had not ventured to .sneak of the reso-i 
lulions as \ intend to do before I have closed iny ,1 
remarks. From conversation with others, as well !j 
08 from my own reflections, I am satisfied thatu 
they arc resolutions of dangerous import and 
precedence, utterly unknown in the history of 
this country before. 1 think they show that one 
Slate of the Confederacy may make a fearful issue 
in the Congress of the United States, under the 
immunities and privileges which by courtesy arc 
sometimes extended to States, but would not 
otherwise grow up. If it is in the power of Mas- 
sachusetts or South Carolina, or in the province 
of any one State in the Union — Wisconsin or 
Texas — to make such a quarrel as must neces- 
sarily result in an angry controversy that may 
array the different sections of the Union against 
each other, it is one of the most dangerous views 
in which the power of a State Legislature can ex- 
ercise the privilege or courtesies which have been 
awarded to it. 

Sir, I have intimated this much with a view to 
show that 1 intend to denounce those resolutions — 
to denounce them strongly — not that I denounce 
the individuals who passed them. I hope that 1 
can go higher than the resentment to the mere 
individual who may assault the history of my 
Slate, or who may impugn my character. This 
is a question that goes deeper and higher — very 
far beyond anything which is involved in a mere 
personal controversy. I will reserve those re- 
marks on the resolutions until after I shall have 
finished what I intended to say yesterday in re- 
lation to the actual state of things growing out 
of the speech delivered by the Senator from Mas- 
sachusetts. 

I said yesterday that my friend, my represent- 
ative, my relative, one who is associated with me 
by more lies than either of these — had taken 
redress in his own hands — had resorted to his 
own mode of redress. I said that there were con- 
siderations connected with the occasion which, 
though they could not justify him before a legal 
tribunal, would excuse any man of his character 
and position, representing such constituents as 
he represented, and bound in some measure to I 
sympathize with theoninions of the section with 
whicJi he is a.ssocialed. It was impossible that 
he could sepirate himself from those conclusions 
which olhersmight notappreciate,and some could 
not understand. But I suv that gentleman dare 
not — I do not say I would have advised him — 
but in his estimation he could not go home and 
face such a constituency without incurring what 
is the worst of all judgments— the judgment of 
the country against a man who is placed us a sen - 
tinel li> ri i<resent it. 

If, in the c<iurse of these proceedings and the 
events which have grown out of the speech which 
ha.H be(.n made by the Senator, it shall be said 
that Massachusetts can be justified by falling 
back on an ojdiiion whirh will justify her h:'ena- 
tors and Represeniatives, it is, 1 must be permii- 
ttd to say, one of ilw; uufortunale symptoms of 
the limea in regard to which we have no com- 



mon tribunal to decide between us. Sir, it seems 
to indicate a crisis when the opinion of the con- 
stituency of one [)ortion of the Confederacy ap- 
plauds one whilst it is ready to consume and put 
to the stake another. We have always supposed 
that public opinion would be right; and sir, I 
distinguish public opinion very much iVorn popu- 
lar prejudice. Popular prejudice is that which 
would consume in ignorance to-day, wlutt it 
would repent of to-morrow. Public opinion is 
the judgment of an intelligent comniunity, not 
formed under the excitement of the moment. It 
is not the sentiment of an irresponsible multi- 
tude; it is not the sentiment of an cj; parte decis- 
ion; it is not the judgment which can find its way 
into the history of the country, or which posterity 
will adopt as that which ought to be pronounced 
on the occasion. Public opinion is the highest, 
the gravest, the most solemn judgment to which 
any of us can defer. 1 would not give one cent 
for what is called public opinion, if it depended 
upon ex parte views of any subject. And 1 say 
that the resolutions which have been sent here 
from the Legislature of Massachusetts, are not 
only ex parte, but I am sorry to say that 1 fear 
their counselors were prejudice and nwlignity, 
even giving their counsels through the darkness 
of ignorance. I do not mean ignorance so far as 
regards the body individually, for I have no 
doubt it is intelligent enough; but I mean ignor- 
ance, so far as regards pronouncing a judgment 
without understanding the facts on which* that 
judgment ought to turn. I s;iy that my friend 
has been condemned without a hearing. He has 
been condemned by a judgment which, if suffered 
to go into history uncontradicted, unexamined,, 
and unrefuted, would consign him to a fate which 
his character does not deserve, and shall not 
receive as long as I can stand here as his friend 
and advocate. 

But, sir, before I approach the constitutional 
and legal view of these resolutions, I must acquit 
myself of the duly which I in some measure as- 
sumed yesterday evening, of presentuig to the 
public the circumstances under whicli the fracas, 
as it is termed, or the assault, on the Senator fron\ 
Massachusetts, occurred. 

I said thai my friend and relative was not in the 
Senate when the sjjeech was being delivered, but 
he was summoned here, as I have learned from 
others. He was excited and stung by the street 
rumors and the street commentaries, and by the 
conversations in the parlors, where even ladies 
pronounced a judgment; and, sir, woman never 
fails to pronounce a judgment where honor is 
concerned, and il is always in favor of the re- 
dress of a wrong. 1 would trust to the instinct 
of woman upon subjects of this kind. He could 
not go into a parlor, or drawing room, or to a 
dinner party, where he did not find an implied 
reproach that there was an unmanly submission 
to an insult to his State and his countrymen. 
Sir, it was hard for any man, much less for a 
man of his temperament, to bear this. 

I intended to reserve a commentary which was 
at once made on the speech of the Senator from 
Massachusetts as the most important part of my 
conclusion; but I find that I can apply it at no 
better time than this. I alludu.to the commentary 
whicii was pronounced at the time; not when a 
controversy had arisen; not when it was supposed 



11* 




that the t< mptatioM of an a4«rn»ry , or cr- 

publir tri!nJ, hud tf> far nni«J' an •••'»' O.nt * 
ol/.. 



bv '• 

m. '-•' 

I I f- 

All >y n.ai ... "I 

br r. It waa il. " 

'"" , ;;■ 

(;i-n(!. Ill "^ 

and iK. , --r 

diiftiiiy- •• «,■. ■ — N ■ - V 

apri-ch i«f llic liw ..... 

aeltJi. .M-t-h n •"*' wiihout thnr dirr«U' 



ai<.l 
Hi. ■ 
h. 



hix ri Ml It Ul lO the II 

cri ••■nn " 



I 

d.. ! 



iirr. i>( .'I I 
rd by ihe 



iihow what » - •' . 

niiid at thr >i« 

<!. Mr Hi d 

■-•■ ■■■r 



fr. 


, »i:.i 


i!n^r. 














im ' Ifih. 

. tnkr ndi 


I. 1 > 


. 1 .I.....:.) 


hn. i..r„ r 


....iv I.. ». ■..! ., 


, .. .. . _ 


til. » ' 


to makt' aim 


lirliti-.nl III 


•iinip way. 1 


' 


•h.. .' 


i ,v.w,H .-.., 


:. ni f.ir ni 


1 .-„,!.». (v rr 




I"' 

aiHi 








dr, 

ui--: 
8.. 








lllIHIt 


ihiTr WAa 



^1^ M" w.M|!d hitx" mi. .d 

Thr n. I, - V ■ . . J J , ,.^ . ^j 
which I 

u»«cir.rv •" " r"^' 

•ubaidcd. tlu, .-.,..■ nr-n; ... !r. . I.. ».'■ i:, \! >,..-, •>' ' ^ ' V<» 

ehutrtu itarlC. I aliouid not b<.' al'mid to try i( "'>"!' d 

ihrrr. Thiy art! noi al«Tra i.> b.- ij.it. rn. .1 t-v '*■*■ " J 

fanalirni tnadiiraa. One of tlir jnurnnli ().' ' ir ni »ii -i- 

a rrmarkabljr wcll-wriiicn arUclr, whicli i .. authoriiy i .<> 

my,. In Mm, no.! ,:« 

... ■•■It. iin.l h<" 

•ri> 1 •'nt forth l« 



on a fnir V 

And ** ; 

',.>oii«-« t.i flft V tha; Il » ■ • )ii t !• r<i« in!' . , 

■ If him in any vay aha* ehooan. (A; 

STUART. I '-• 

■ . I (hink, I- 

'r ' • * »nn j.T... ■ ti. • ..f the 

'■ bf {rntJcnirn, thcjr akould 



la 



The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the j 
Senator dcsin- (he galleri' s to be cleared? ' 

Mr. STUART. ' I shall not make any motion 
row; 1)111 I hope it will be understood by every-' 
bodv who visits this Chamber, that the proprie-| 
ties ot'th"' plare shall be observed. ' 

The PRESIDENT pro tempoit. Persona in 
the j:;>11' ries will distinctly understand, that if 
there be any further demonstration, the galleries 
will be cleared of all except ladies. 

Mr. FESSENDEN. In justice to the galleries, 
I will suggest that the impression on this side of 
the House is, that the disturbance came from 
the floor of the Senate Chamber, and not from 
the iralleries. I hope the galleries will not be 
punished for the act of persons on tlie floor. \ 

Mr. BUTLER. Well, sir, I will go on in such 
a wav that nobody shall be disturl)ed — not tliat 1 1 
intend to suppress any single sentiment of mine; , 
but 1 shall express it in the severity of truth. 1 | 
can tell the tnnator from Maine, with whom I j 
have always been on good terms, that I shall say , 
nothing out of the way. 

Sir, a man who occupies a place in the Senate, ; 
representing a great Comnmnwealth like Massa- ^ 
chusetts, or representing any State, as one of her i 
Senators, occujiies a very high position, from 
which he can send forth to the public what may 
aflfect thi' character qf almost any man, except 
General Washington, or some one upon whose 
character the verdict of hisloVy has been ren- 
dered. There is scarcely any man who can with- ' 
stand the slander which may be pronounced from 
the Senate Chamber of the United States. For j 
this reason I would never look, and I never have 
looked, beyond the public po.«ition of a member | 
here, to iro into his private and personal clmrac- | 
tcr. I would not do it, because by so doing I | 
should do a wrong which I coulu not redress, j 
Even a word escaping my tongue in this Cham- j 
her, as a Senator, might go far to injure a man I 
where he could not correct it. We are in a position 
which requires high considerations for the regu- ! 
lation of our conduct. I agree thoroughly with 
General Jackson, that the slanderer who involves 
third persons in difliculty and danger, is an in- 
cendiary, against whom we should guard more 
than any one else, in a parliamentary point of 
view. 1 will quote General Jackson's language. ' 
He said: "Over the doors of each House of Con- : 
gress, in letters of gold, should be inscribed the 
words, ' The Slanderer is worse than the Mur- I 
derer. ' " A single murder is horrible. It may i 
take a single individual from society. But when 
I look at the mischievous influence of slander, I 
find that it pervades a whole community; makes 
war in society; sets family against family; indi- 
vidual against individual; section against section. 
It is the most cowardly mode in which a war 
can be conducted. 

With the state of opinion to which I have al- 
luded prevailing, what did Mr. BnooKs do.' Of 
course he did not undertake to challenge Mr. 
SuMMKB to a fist fight, or a slick fight, or any other 
kind of figlit. He thought Mr. Sumner deserved 
a castigation, and he undertook to give it to him 
according to the old-fashioned notion, by caning 
him. 1 have not heard Mr. Brooks detail the 
circum.viances. 1 have not conversed with him 
in regard to the matter; I take my information 
from the published testimony. Mr. Brook.s, not 



finding him anywhere else, came to him while 
he was silting in his sent here, after the Senate 
had adjourned. He came to him in front — differ» 
cnt from the statement made to the Massachusetts 
Legislature. He was half a minute in his proem 
or explanation. H(* said: " Mr. Sumver, I have 
read your speech. I have read it carefully, with 
as much consideration, and forbearance, and fair- 
ness as I could; but, sir, I have come to punish 
you now for the contents of that speech, which 
IS a libel on my State, and on a gray-haired rel- 
ative." 

Instinct would have prompted most men to 
rise immediately. Mr. Sitmner did rise. In 
the act of rising, Mr. Brooks struck him across 
the face— not, as has been represented, over his 
head, for that is not the truth, nor is it borne out 
by the testimony. On the second stroke the cane 
broke. It is the misfortune of Mr. Brooks to 
have incurred all the epithets which have been 
used in regard to an assassin-like and l)ludgeon 
attack, by the mere accident of having a foolish 
stick, which broke. It broke again; and it was 
not, as I understand, until it came very near the 
handle, that he inflicted blows which he would 
not have inflicted if he had an ordinary weapon 
of a kind which would have been a security 
against breaking. His design was to whip him; 
but the stick broke, and that has brought upon 
him these imputations. 

j It has gone through the country that Mr. 

Brooks struck him after he was prostrate on the 

floor. None who know this young man could 

entertain such an idea. I have known him from 

childhood. I used to have some control over him; 

' but the scholar has become the master, and I sup- 

! pose he would not care much about my advice 

i now. By an hereditary tie our families are more 

] closely united than any two with whom I have 

' been acquainted. But that is far apart from the 

! question. Independent of his filial feelings for 

' me, and his regard for me as his constituent and 

\ Senator, I have no doubt that a personal feeling 

I of regard for myself individually influenced him. 

! He approached that man with no other purpose 

than to disgrace him as far as he could; but the 

; stick broke. After it broke he was reduced 

I to a kind of necessity — a contingency not appre- 

'1 hended at all in the original inception of the pur- 

1 pose of making the assault. Notwithstanding 

I all that has been said of his brutality, he is one 

I of the best tempered fellows I ever knew — impetu- 
i! ous, no doubt, and ciuick in resentment, but he 
li did not intend what has been assigned to him. 

After all that has been said and done, on a post 
helium examination, what is it? A fight in the 
; Senate Chamber, resulting in two flesh wounds, 
Ij which ought not to have detained him from the 
• \ Senate. Being rather a handsome man, perhaps 
{I he would not like to expose himself by making 
his appearance for some time; but if he had been 
l| in the Army, there was no reason why he should 
|| not go to the field the next day; and ho would 

I I deserve to be cashiered if he di'd not go. What 
\\ does his physician say ? He says that there were 
!J but two flesh wounds; that he never had a fever 
'■ while under his care and attendance, and that he 
;j was ready to come into the Senate the next day, 
\\ but for his advice; and his advice was, that he 
'! should not come into the Senate, because it would 
ll aggravate the excitement already too high. Ho 



]# 



did nol reeftmmend him n..i uj go into lh« com- !, Lyon Mid. " I will ro o«cr lo Conn 
mittr« roxTf '•• W» fxariiin>-<i on the rrouiid thai , will talk to ihr*> pc«>|>lr, and I » ill h» 

hl«» ........... .................... *!,.,, ,,.„. I . ... ^.. 

fidT 
met- 
le«>l ' 
Ti 
Mr. I,, ^ 
ha*» n.Mi». 1 ■ ■ 
tuiUkti- that I ^ >• 
crrtjiiiily t>i'.i,i.| 
•uU. P...^ 
I wrrc pr. 
br><:«)i«<- I 

COUfv 
of f 

• pr. 

up. 
m*<l 
indu 
eonl'orin m 



irriicut; I 



dMrnry in [wiMie ofunion. If hr liad n<il .1 
■o, I lio not kiiuw what would havo lwci> 
courar. 

For ihia imnaariion, at I hare drUitxd ii, 
withniii th" tnt-Wtftf* whK-h I hatr.* dni 

bc.M,-- •• •' ; ' ^'-- - 



-. I...V 

i>oih gu. i'hcjr rriuBcd to c&pcl 



of lhl> » 


ii!r \ 


■y 










tn ihi-m fn 


r th. 




lth< ' 




B.r 














• I.d. 


• «! 




In n\ 








N«w Eneli 

Thr. «f»- 


' 11 




1 ■ iw 
.« In 1 






y an »»Yidrnr«> of »n, 
iffiaitiain. S 


iih«rn 


Viol. : 






•pr.« 

whi.i. ■.... • 


• ihI Ihf r 








Whv, »ir. il 




ih«-w I.v 


• ihi 
ih.- 

WtXI 






llCUt •"*■:■ 






filth ( 

port.. 


f'ni: ■ 

It waa 


•o 


unim- 

-.|>hr 




', in 




umr i.t th. 
It mtrtni 


■ t 

A. 










nffrrr in 








awardri] a 


I.I 11. 1(1. 1. .!»■ 

and at ihia, ti>< 




1 «\4 '1 

linir, 




Mciirui. 


At I 


hat 


' 


nc^lif-:". 


' "' 




ar" 

kail 










th. 










S\n. h. .1 I' 




thr 1 










Ad- 










M 








hr waiia !)■ 

. »«-f. rr tir 






M 






from \ < 








it 






•uniril M 1 


Iw a 

N. 




m<v-ri V 














E- 












••Nil 
Ik 






Wlii 






Uri.v 




, 





out her iM'hrata in r< RArd to whr 
to Im an ouirafc u)miii thr pn« 



tore inaulltiix to i 
intra than lltr aot 



III my itpinioii, thi ar rra..: 
(h< y import, uuKhl nut to I. 
•I..- S. natr. 

Taking all thrar thinra into conaidrration, 
I'-l.H ix* Mr ManoB* na« \^rn Lr an ** a 



'■ntJ.-man, a 
If il o,ilf|. 



20 



assailed." What would Mr. Brooks's counsel 
rejoin? The rejoinder would be, " Sir, you had 

Crofancd and disgraced the seat you occupied, 
efore you were struck." 

Then the question would bo, what is this priv- 
ilege so much spoken of— freedom of debate ? 
The court would examine the question , wheiher 
what was said was privileged within ilie rules of | 
the Senate, or whether it was a libel. If it .should 
be pronounced to be a libel, and I wore the judge 
before whom an action were brought — if a man 
brought before me could show that another in- \ 
suited his mother, or his father, or his sister, or ; 
himself, or his country, I would s;iy to the man ' 
who inflicted the blow, " My duty is to fine you; ' 
you are not justified by the law; but it is my j 
privilege to say that, whilst I will enforce the law i 
and maintain its dignity, I shall fine you as small | 
a sunt as 1 possibly can within my discretion." j 
Now let me state the testimony in such an I 
action. It would be that, in the absence of the • 
Senator from South Carolina, Mr. Sumner rose I 
in his seat, and pronounced wluit northern papers 
themselves say is an unparalleled insult, not only 
to the State of South Carolina, but to her absent j 
Senator. It is one for which I cannot account, i 
1 ought to thank one of the Boston editors — I 
think the editor of the Courier — for a beautiful, 
perhaps an undeserved compliment, which he has 
paid to my speech. I ought to thank him here 
publicly, as one who has independence enough 
to express his opinions in opposition to the tide 
prevailing iii his part of the country. In my | 
absence, language was used of mo which, I ven- 1 
lure to say, no one who knew me believed. 1 1 
might put that question to the Senator's colleague. I 
I know nothing against either of the Senators i 
from Massachusetts personally or privately. I 
dare say, as neighbors and individuals, I should 
not have the least right to complain of their judg- 
ment outside of the influences which operate ; 
upon them publicly and politically. They have 
no right here to attack any man's private char- 
acter I never transgressed the liinits of propri- . 
ety to reach over and look at any man's private 
character. I do not know that I have anything 
against Mr. Summer's private character; but that 
has nothing to do with the matter. Here, in his 
place, ill colore officii, as a Senator from Massa- 
chusetts, he undertook to traduce and calumniate 
the revolutionary history of South Carolina, and 
to make remarks in regard to one of her Senators ; 
on this floor, a coequal with him, to which no 
one could have submitted. It happens that that 
Senator was the constituent of a member of the | 
House of Representatives, who was his friend. 
That friend, finding that his own blood was in- 
sulted by an insult to his absent relative, was 
goaded on by the necessity of circumstances to 
take fiomi.' ni-asure of revenge. As i said yester- 
day, surely under such circumstances much is to 
be pardon" d to the feelings of a man acting under 
■ucn motivi's. j 

With these remarks I dismiss the resolutions 
of Massaciiusiils, hoping that somebody else 
besides a Senator from South Carolina will say 
something of tlnm.for I do not wish to identify 
myself too much with tln-m as a personal matter. 
1 havi- aitemptid to keep aloof from that. i 

The Si-nalorfrom Massachusetts, in his speech, 
made one or two allusions which 1 must inci- 



dentally notice to show how erroneous he is 
whenever he touches any subject. He says I 
indulged in licentious abuse of the people of Kan- 
sas. When he speaks of the people of Kansas 
I suppose he means those who were sent there 
by the aid societies. I oresume he considers 
nobody as the people of Kansas except those 
who have the inqiression upon them of the people 
whom he designates to choose and comprehend 
within the term, " people of Kansas." lie has 
no regard for the people of Kentucky, of Mis- 
souri, of Iowa, of Virginia, of South Carolina, 
who may have gone into that Territory, but he 
says I have abused its people. I never did abuse 
them. I did say that the man who came here 
with the so-called petition of Kansas in his hands 
without signatures, was attempting to come into 
the fold of this Federal Government by a fraud. 
I did not use as strong an expression as my friend 
from Louisiana, [Mr. Benjami.v,] my friend from 
Virginia, [Mr. Mason,] and others. I did not 
say that the petition was a forgery. I denounced 
it as a violation of the rules of the Senate to print 
a paper of that kind, or to give it the dignity 
of a paper coming from a Slate. This is all that 
I said. I did not abuse the people. But what 
does Mr. Sumner say of the ])ortion, my portion, 
if he chooses to call them so, though I do not 
wish so to characterize them, of the people of 
Kansas? Hespeaksof themas " hirelings, picked 
from the drunken spew and vomit of an uneasy 
civilization — in the form of men — 
" ' Ay, in the catuld^ui- yi' 2ii for men ; 

A.s lioimds mid u'r:iyliiniii(ls. mongrels, spanicia, cars, 
Shoughs, Wilier ru;;>, and dcnii-wolvcs, are culled 
All by the name olilo;,'.-;.' '' 

Sir, he could not have provoked me in the spi- 
rit of controversy to say that. I have no doubt 
many worthy individuals have gone there under 
the influence of aid societies; I have not com- 
pared them, as the Senator has those who have 
gone there from Arkansas, Missouri, and Vir- 
ginia, to the genus of wolves, dogs, and hirelings 
from the spew of an uneasy civilization. All are 
dogs, in his estimation, that do not come under 
the impression of his indorsement. This is lan- 
guage which 1 could not use of any set of men with 
whom I was not acquainted. If I were to settle 
in Kansas to-inorrow among those very people, I 
think it probable that I should be on good terms 
with them; for I have never had a dispute with a 
neighbor. I do not think the.se people would 
disturb me. But what think you of this denun- 
ciation — this rhetorical bombardment from the 
Senate of the United States, of a class of indi- 
viduals, as honorable and brave a set of men, I 
doubt not, as any other, though, perhaps, reck- 
less to some extent. I regret the issue pending 
in Kansas. I said before, and now repeat, that 
the very last fate to which this country should 
be reduced, would be to commit the arbitrament 
of great questions to the issue of the sword in 
the hands of youth willing to contend and pleased 
with the pride of engaging in arm.';, and having 
bestowed on them all the fascination which can 
beimpartid by danger and trial. 

There is another ])ait of his speech to which T 
must allude, which evinces — I ilo not like to use 
the word, but 1 cannot help it — the charlatan 
more than any production of his that I have ever 
seen. I was surprised when I saw it, and 1 



21 



Tenlore to aay ihtrt u not • penoo who hmr* than m . 

mc r«ad i*. >)'j'. trill i>isr«- my «»r»>ri-*. On a «J/»r» r • 

fonii ■ ' * , 

Uw 

fr..i.. ; 

mm 

ihc ' I 

haiHJ' 

MlUO'l y 

I Un . I 

naiii' r 

I h^>l I."' 1 ■•>;'• • 

o( I' rvaii thai ( 






..• J'i.l^.H- M ..f n M(i'. ^r,,,^n. |,.jr dj I 

haa uar<i ii aa an oraior vould 4u oa • 



-. Wl,.., I 
had an id< i 

1 )>,,». .X.. 



' '^ I " ll raitr.ot b* lltai jxm birr arir4 wi n aa la » 

■•CJn.J : r..r II. TlT. ,t, ,r,! .»',!, ..f ,« C. .- 



^. 



III upon whi<-h I ha*« no tl 
more forc under my criU . rouharcLcx 



ttfit MrrcrM 

ij.f. n .Si( .->« »»M.a, iij- ntkii.- of Mawacha- 

Pn! it '^nr.r.t f^ I"-,? ,hr «rtf w-.r; <»-» hffmtf W i 



. ) Un J. 



i32 



athon, and Bunker Hill for Platrpa; and he has 
named Lexington and Bunker Hill, for they, I 
believe, are the only battles of the Revolution 
fought in Massachusetts, and they are glorious 
fields. This, as I have said, is a remarkable 
imitation. It is the best part of the speech. It 
is the only thing, except those polluting person- 
alities to which" I have alluded — but 1 will not 
use that term, because they hurt nobody — which 
distinguishes it from his former eflbrts. 

Mr. President, I have convicted the Senator of 
making a speech which was not in response to 
anything 1 said. 1 have convicted him of such 
historical errors as no man can mistake. I liave 
convicted him of making allegations against me 
of being ignorant of law and of Constitutions, and 
yet when he undertook to quote and expound the 
constitution of South Carolina, I have shown that 
he either never read that constitution, or he could 
not understand it, or, if he did understand it, he 
willfully misrepresented it. He has been guilty 
of the siippressio veri and the suggeitio falsi. He 
cannot escape from these propositions. 

I have a copy of the Senator's speech before 
me, and now I am going to turn his gun upon 
him. 1 ask the Senate to see if I do not turn it 
upon him to such an extent as to allow me to 
apply the apposite quotation of which I have 
often made use: 

" Mutato nomine, de te 
Fabula narratur." 

Here is what he says of me: 

" Witli fpsret I coiiifi again upon tlic Senator from South 
Carolina, [Mr. Bctler,]vvIio, omnipresent in lliis debatt;" 

Why, sir, I have counted the Congressional 
Globe, and my remarks make but twelve pages, 
while his are thirty-two. I have not gone into 
the subject at as great length as my friends from 
Alabama, [Mr. Clat,] Georgia, [Mr. Toombs,] 
and others. My speeches all put together on 
this subject are but twelve pages, and his are thir- 
ty-two; while those of his coadjutors amount, I 
suppose, to a hundred more. Yet he said I was 
omnipresent in this debate ! I will not say that 
he is omnipresent in this debate, but he is omni- 
present everywhere out of the debate. He says 
that I " overflowed with rage at the simple sug- 
gestion thai Kansas had applied for admission as 
a State, and, with incoherent phrases, discharged 
the loose expectoration of his speech, now upon 
her representatives, and then upon her people." 
I said it was a fraud, and the Senate said so. 
Why did he single me out? Again, alluding to 
me, lie said: 

" There wss no exiravapance of the ancient parliament- 
ary debate which lie did not repeat; nor was there any pos- 
sible deviation iroia truth wliieh lie did not make, with so 
much of passion, I am ^lad to add, as to save him I'rom the 
suspicion of inteiitiunal aberration." 

I do not know that I have ever been an imita- 
tor in my life. Those who know me best say 
that I am rather sui i§:fJieris. I never borrow from 
Demosthenes, and palm itofl'as my own. As for 
my deviation from the truth, let me ask, did he 
tell the truth when he quoted the constitution of 
South Carolina, and there was no such clause in 
it as he siadd r Did he tell the truth when he 
undertook to say, that her imbecility was shame- 
ful durin;: the Revolution? I have shown that 
uhe absolutely sent bread to Massachusetts. Did 
bo tell the truth when he meant to impute to me 



what he has charged here.' I retort upon him 
everything that follows. 

I retort on him the very language which he 
applies to me. He accused me of such a pro- 
clivity to error that I could not conform to the 
line of truth, or was continually deviating from 
it. I have convicted him before the Senate, by 
the evidence which I have adduced, of calum- 
niating the history and character of South Caro- 
lina, and of misrepresenting her con.stiiulion. 
He has done this, not in response to anything 
I had said, or anything which was legitimately 
connected with the debate. He has undertaken 
to charge me with ignorance of the law and the 
Constitution, which is perfectly independent of 
his arbitrary dicium — the dictum, allow me to say, 
of a man who has never conducted a great law 
case in this country. I believe no one would buy 
an estate worth jilU,OUO upon his opinion of the 
title. I would not engage him to conduct a cause, 
not that he is not a clear man, but 1 would not 
trust him as a lawyer. And yet he undertakes to 
be my judge. What right has he to pronounce 
judgment on me as a lawyer? I am reduced to a 
pretty predicament at this time of life, if I am to 
be subjected to such a judgment ! It is a judg- 
ment about which I care iiiile; and 1 do not sup- 
pose any man would give fifty dollars for it even 
in Massachusetts. 

" lie cannot ope his mouth but out there flies a blunder." 

I sincerely hope that what he has said is a 
blunder. 1 do not know but that he may have 
thought he would escape scrutiny and exposure. 
I hope that, when he ojjened his mouth and said 
what he did in reference to these matters, it was 
a blunder. He said of me, " the Senator touches 
nothing which he does not disfigure." 1 can say 
of him he has touched notliing which he has not 
misrepresented, except it be in his general decla- 
mation, and there is no detecting a man in that; it 
is a matter of taste. I appreciate highly the com- 
pliment I received this morning in tlie Boston 
Courier as to the merit of my speech. The 
Senator says of me, that "the Senator touches 
nothing which he does not disfigure — with error 
sometimes of princi|)le, sometimes of fact." I 
apply this to him with this exception: I say error 
nearly always of principle, sometimes of fact. I 
leave the Senate to decide between us in that re- 
spect. Again he said of me: 

" He showsanincapacityof accuracy, whether in stating 
the Constitution or in stating the law — whether in the de- 
tails of statistics or the diversions of scholarship." 

I shall not comnote with him in scholarship, 
for I should be vulnerable there; but " men who 
live in glass houses should never throw stones." 
Of all the things which that Senator ventured to 
do, 1 think he exposed his house most when he 
made that assertion, with the detection which I 
have fixed upon him of error, injustice, and ma- 
lignity. It is nailed upon him, and he cannot 
get rid of it. I care not how far fanaticism may 
undertake to influence the judgment of public 
opinion, it cannot alter the truth. Truth is 
sometimes slow in making its impression on the 
public mind, but, when made, it igevidcnce which 
produces a belief that cannot be resisted. That 
belief will grow out of my statements, my re- 
marks, and my references, and is just ascertain 
as the truth of the evidence, and he cannotescapo 
from it. 



21^ 



M 
lo. 
I ^ 



...f 



ii>4«^l«ou«UaEUl lUmi tiiM^la 



r«.- 

no- 
fid' 
h.. 

in>; . 

ftl. 

«). 
Wl'' 
Whrlifi 

oi{;hi, Bi 
mark*. I 
in a f.-w 
would II' 

Wrrkn. I 
Ih. 
■ til 

Wl' 

no' - 

8t. 



.■. I.r 

lour 

: nil. 

nol 

1 «'•■ 

ul.l 



MokOAT. Jmtu 16, IKW. 
Mr itUTLKK. 1 desire U> |UT*rtil • ' . r : 
•I from Dr. Hoylr, wbu fr»l» tiiat Um 



ling, I Mk (hal It itMjr be frsd. 
1 " Mrjr rvod aa foliuica: 

WkaaiMtwa Cm, ^M« 14, laOt. 
l>«ta Hia Thaaotc irad ut thr !««■—«» tin i> >i >y il» 

rciMlri* II or. rMary la jarttr* lo a; • 




ihaji iiiK'iii' f 
ha«r aiMikrii, 

•miV I mil 

my 

n.ii 

lh.v, . 
to bcrant' 



ii 1 

■ for ii—Mf »( 

: ..|- 



wo Uav mnim i t«wt<«« taa »hwww,^ 



It 



o(v 
at>. 
bav 
h. : 

• IK. 



<1, \V till \*a« ill'- Ai^iifrnM- 

il It wna not I on nny 

!. i> liir. .• 1 inritii-s 

inpa 

. Inch 

. ,s,r. I 

>. in- II reason 



por i.'- u> mr, or 

• v>. 1,1 M<»cr •i«>p to p«r1r]r 

ill A , and if It la nut rivrp. 

I III ■ .;i<- »ron|( if I roulii hrll> 

niyat U ; out xahm I mm in ihr rixiit I do not think 
anjr iiianran blame racfor rindtcaiing ray pniKi- 
pica. 

Now, air, I apiw<al (o lh<; f^ood arnM* >■: 
eountrv. I api>r«l inthr Irnaona whirh it« 
h,,......,,,,,' ,.,.. I ..i,..,l 

II • 
•n>i 



HilTM tfTaaaT, M'a^MdU*,^ a. 
•*i». (i«rui( |u Um vm| cnur.*! MllMbua of ■/ 



I as4 lo t>r f^rr;, I mihm siau Umi h» 



II. . 
ar<-TfK 



r|rtcMaU4 kjr |U« kroUKi 



irlli. 






th. 






Ifu 






ten. 






ten. 






oft 






•a'-i 


. , 




•How nK to ail 


•prrrh, 


ir 


th. 


to-rv • 


,..-. 1 


, .. .1 


hn 






no... 






Uoi. 






h.*; 






th. 






•hUi* .. 


...--.. 


1- ' 




24 



way from I».e Ups of the wound. We rcadiiy broke up the 
•dhes.on of ihe !.(« of ihe wound, and gnvc vent to the 
pui He «TUi much relieved by tlu^. The absorbent vessels 
Ind a few of the glands of Uie right side of the neck were 
a liuie inflamed, and tend, r to .he touch. We did not deem 
anylhmg ue.e,.ar> escepl a u.Ud pouluce, quiel for a lew 
days, and better diet. 

NVul.rr oi u» deemed -Mr. Sumner in any danger. 

Dr Lmd-ley and mv*elf visited Mr. Sumner, together, 
ihe neil moniii.-, at ten «VKH.k. He wiis doing so well 
ihai a cooiiuluug .urgeon was considered unnecessary. I 
wa« Uierriore di«-o«t.iiued by Mr. George Sumner, with 
the under^.andin-, that if his broUier thould become more 
ttswcll 1 »liould be ag:un called. 



Hearing nothing more of Mr. S., I presume his rase pro 
gressed favorably. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

THOMAS MILLER. 
Dr. CoRNELica Boyle, n'ashins:ton, District of Columbia. 

I address this communication to you, with a view to jui- 
tice to all concerned ; and for the further purpose of having 
myself appear right on llie record ; and autliori/.e you ta 
use it at your discretion. 
I have the honor to be, &.C., 

CORNELIUS BOYLE. 
Hon. A. r. Butler. 



APPENDIX. 



r.emnrh of Mr. Butler hi the Senate, March 5, 1856, on affairs in the Territory of 
Kansas; and in vindication of General .Itchison, of Missouri, to which Mr. Sumner, 
171 his affidavit before the Inveatisating Committee, said his speech of 19th and Wth 
May teas a reply. 



TJie Senate resumed Die consideration of Mr. Weller's 
motion to print ten Uiousand extra copies of the President's 
me«iage of February 18, with llie accompanying documents, 
relative to atlairs in the Territory of Kansas. 

Mr. HUNTER. My friend from South Caro- 
lina, wlio ha.s ill.- floor on this question, is not 
Tfry well lo-dny, nn<l tlureforc I suggest that it 
•hould be postponed until lo-morrow. 

Several Sgs'.MORs. Say Monday. There is a 
•pecial order for to-morrow. 

Mr. WELLER. I desire to give notice that on 
Monday 1 shall ask the Senate to take up the bill 
10 appropriate {i3,UUU,U00 for the purchase of arms 
for fortifications. 

Mr. BUTLER said: Mr. President, I prefer to 
qo on now. When 1 obtained the floor the other 
day upon this question, it was with a view to make 
A x-ry few remarks in order to relieve the Senate 
from any impreiision which might be made on it 
by the stateiii. iits made here on the responsibility 
of Sciiuior«, or by newspaper communications, 
in reloiion to the purl which my friend, General 
AtcliiBon, has acted in Kansas atVairs. 1 intended 
no more; and 1 hIiuII endeavor to discharge that 
duly before I conclude the remarks which I pro- 
pomr now to Hubmil. 

The debate tin this subject, Mr. President, haa 
brou^'lii mniiy things within its scn|fe, and has, 
in my 'piiiioii, been made tiic occasion of fearful 
indii.iiMiin for ihe future. What the develop- 
menta of ih'- liiiure may disclose I know not; but 
thin much I will say, before I apjiroacli the main 
• iibjeri on which 1 intend to deliver my views — 
thai we are reduced, by the issue which has 
been mide in KniiKioi, to the alternative eilh( r of 
■uflering the I'rcuideat, under the message which 



he has sent to us and the proclamation which 
he has issued, to exercise his high oflice to 
preserve the peace which is threatened to be 
disturbed in Kansas, or subject ourselves to the 
usurpation of squatter sovereignty and the dis- 
cretion of an uncalculating fanaticism; raising a 
' whirlwind on which it may not be able to ride, 
j This is the issue which is presented to us. For 
1 if the President does not interpose his authority 
to preserve peace, I have no reason to conclude 
' but that the conflict between the two parties in 
! Kansas may result in the shedding of blood; and- 
' sir, my word for it, one drop of blood shed in 
! civil strife in this country, in which parties have 
[been distinctly arrayed, so far as they can be 
arrayed by their advocates, will have more efl'ecl 
i on civilization and on society than all the blood 
' shed in all the battles of antiquity , or in the strug- 
gle at Borodino and the battles which followed it„ 
Sir, I am entirely persuaded that, if we arc to ap- 
proach what has been threatened — a rupture of 
this Uniiin — or if ^v<? are to preserve the Union, 
it is the duty of every man, as far as he can, to 
throw his influence into tlie public opinion which 
will justify the course of the President, so aa to 
be free from the consequences which may other- 
wise grow out of this fearful issue. Yes, sir; if 
I the South is forced to take her destiny in her sq)o- 
} rale keeping, let us do all we can to ju.slify our 
! conduct before the tribunal of history; let us do 
1 all we can in the way of cxnlanation to dispel 
I delusion and rebuke the mad spirit which has 
infused itself into the public mind in a portion of 
Ithia Confederacy. Danger may speak with a 
[loud trumpet to the ear of Reason and Justice. 
i It may be said that 1 have passed through the 



25 



ordeal of experience, and perhaps of time, and j 
that they have had their influence on my temper; 
but, sir, I look on anything like a rupture in civil 
government, and especially such a one as would ' 
dirow us into the horrors of anarchy, with not 
tJie same view as others who may be more in- 
trepid, and who may think they can come out of 
it without hazard to themselves. There is noth- 
ing so mischievous to society as any movement 
affecting its stability, uncontrolled by respons- j 
ibility and unregulated by intelligence. Bigotry, j 
fanaticism, andprejudice, are fatalcounselors; and j 
under the Sharpe's rifle influence they have exer- ' 
cised their influence on the issues of the day. | 

Now, before I approach the main point, I must I 
dispose of some of the remarks made by the i 
Senator from New Hampshire, [Mr. Hale.] I 
reply to his remarks because he has been in this j 
Chamberforalongerperiod than the Senatorfrom j 
Massachusetts, [Mr. Wilson,] and has had asso- ! 
ciations here which I think ought at least to have 
tempered some of his expressions. I do not in- | 
tend to use the language of asperity in this debate, : j 
if I can avoid it; but allow me to say to the Sen- 1 
ator from New Hampshire that I think, when he i 
used some expressions, not only in relation to the [| 
President of the United States, the Chief Magis- " 
Irate of this Confederacy, but in relation to the 
Supreme Court, and other departments of this 
Government; and when He allowed himself to 
read from a newspaper, under the signature of an 
anonymous writer, statements in reference to a 
distinguished gentleman with whom he had been 
associated here — I will do him the justice to say 
that I hardly think he consulted the dictates of 
his own nature; for I believe that generally he 
has rather shown a temper that would lift him 
above such things, except when he acts as the 
committed archer pulling the arrow under the be- 
hests of his urging huntsmen. The Senatorfrom 
New Hampshire is a committed advocate to a 
sectional, fanatical organization; and perhaps he 
is not at liberty to deny the authority under 
which he has entered the Senate. 

Sir, what did I hear him say ? That the Su- 
preme Court of the United States was the citadel 
of slavery. He did not know, when he made that 
remark, how far it extended, and what it might 
not embrace. Is he not associated with a class 
of politicians in this country who have said that 
tlie Constitution of the UnitedStates— the funda- 
mental law of their country — was the citadel of 
slavery ? Yes, sir, I have had pamphlets within 
the last week laid on my desk, maintaining that 
tlie Constitution of the United States itself is the 
citadel of slavery; and that, unless it is broken 
down, and the institution of slavery thereby 
reached in all the States, it is a Constitution which | 
ought to have no validity and obligation. I think 
I have seen the same statements in apaper called 
the Radical Abolitionist. When the Senator 
speaks of the Supreme Court as the citadel of the 
institution of slavery, he might better have desig- 
nated them as opposed to those who have called 
the Constitution of their country the citadel of 
slavery. Sir, I would prefer regarding the Judges 
of the Supreme Court, as far as I know anything 
of their decisions, as the sentinels and defenders i 
of the Constitution — a Constitution recognizing | 
the equality of the States, and at least imposing I 
on them such obligations as that they are not per- \ 



milted to transfer their judgments into another 
jurisdiction, prescribed, I suppose, by what is 
technically called the higher law — a jurisdiction 
of discretion and prejudice. 

They have not gone down or up — as gentlemen 
may choose to con.sider it — to the higher law. 
As far as I know the court — and I have had inter- 
course with its venerated and venerable Chief 
Justice, from my oflicial position as chainnan of 
the Committee on the Judiciary — T do not believe 
I have ever known a body of men more honestly 
disposed to do their duty under the obligations 
of the power which gave them the right to dis- 
charge judicial functions. I believe, when our 
first parents were driven out of Paradise, it was 
under tha suggestions of the higher law. The 
Devil went in and suggested to Eve that there was 
a higher law; and, disregarding the law under 
which she was placed in Paradise, she and her 
posterity have suffered the penalties of disobedi- 
ence: transgression is sin. I wish to recognize 
no tribunal and no set of opinions which will 
attempt to rule the country except by some pre- 
scribed law and a constitution laid down for them 
by those who give them their oflicial existence. 
I believe that the Supreme Court has committed 
errors, though not intentionally. I believe their 
decision in the case of Prigg and Pennsylvania 
has led to mischievous consequences not intended 
by the court. When the court undertook to say 
that the States themselves might be absolved from 
the duty imposed on them by the Federal compact 
of returning fugitives from labor, I think they 
made a decision tending to absolve the States from 
the honor of compacts. They did not say it in so 
many words, nor do I think their decision is of 
that import, but the non-slaveholding States have 
so construed it. Instead of that decision being 
a judgment from the citadel of slavery, it has 
redounded entirely in its consequences to the 
non-slaveholding States of this Union; or rather 
to let their accommodating morality take refuge 
in it — to excuse them for disregarding the obliga- 
tions imposed upon them as cooperative agen- 
cies, &c. 

I would rather regard that high tribunal as one 
which could look abroad upon the vast and beau- 
tiful horizon of truth and justice. I should not 
wish to see them governed by thatpopular agita- 
tion which is threatening to undermine the insti- 
tutions of the country, and to destroy, not only 
the present form of our Union, but to wash away 
the very landmarks of our forefathers. In such 
a case I would be glad to see the Supreme Court, 
like the proud promontory of the deep, 

" Let the frotful ocean surge upon its base, 
Let storms assail its summit." 

I wish it to stand firm at least as the type of the 
duration of the institutions of this country, and 
as an emblem of eternal justice. I at least wish 
that, amidst the agitation of the time, it shall 
maintain its identity. Let not the Senator from 
New Hampshire suppose that he can assail or 
touch that promontory by any shaft that he may 
aim at it. The hand that shoots the arrow may 
belong to one more willing to wound than it can 
be able to hurt. It has certainly been discharged 
by an archer occupying too great a distance from 
his object to do harm. Let me hope there is 
more of the hand than the heart that has been 



26 



exhibited Jin the shot. The ueapon has fallen 
^nnless. 

AAer the Senator from New Hampshire had 
di»po«ed of the Supreme Court under this denun- 
ciatory epithet, he approached the President. I 
am not one of those who undertake to defend the 
President on all occasions; but, sir, he is the 
Chief Magistrate of this Conftderacy, and whilst 
1 an> in the Confederacy, I will see at least that 
a neig^hbor's hand, moved, perhaps, by resentful 
riralrv, shall not wound the Chief I\Ias;istracy 
of the whole countrj'. The Senator from New 
Hanijwhire took exception to the course which 
the President has taken, by saying that he had 
comiuitted himself to a different judgment and a 
diffcnnt course of conduct by receiving Dorr 
when he was a refugee from justice from Rhode 
Island, and then siistained him by resolutions 
which were passed while he was chairman, Ij 
think, of some Democratic association. Mr. 
Pierce is arrayed against President Pierce. Does 
the Senator siipiliose that the Chief Magistrate of 
this Confederacy, after he has attained the high 
position which he now occupies, is to administer 
his trust as a common trustee for all the people 
of the United States, according to any opinions 
which he may have entertained on any fomur 
»»^casion, when he was chairman of a Democratic 
society? Why, sir, you might as well say that 
one ascending a mountain should slon half way 
and consult the vision which he then nad, rather 
than the certainty of the more extended vision 
which he would have after attaining the summit, 
where the horizon would be more distinct, and 
where h*- would have a large and more extended 
view. The Chief Magistrate of the United States 
is the tnistee of the whole Union. He is not the 
oryan of any portion of New Hampshire; nor 
IS he subject to any latitude. With the vigilance 
and even solicitude of a guardian, he must pro- 
tect the interests and rights of all who are com- 
mitted to his care. He is not now a party in the 
controversies of a former day, but a judge of all 
the parties J)efo re him. 

Sir, the last thing to which I can ever consent 
is, that any man who goes abroad shall wound 
the home of his residence. I am not specially 
interested in the history of New Hampshire, but 
1 say that this is not the place to expose her in- 
tirm!tio«: nor in this the place to take occasion, 
iiileman ^ets a scat on this floor, to 
proscription the conduct of one of 
:/ens, who is now the Chief Magis- 
•mi. (■! u.e ("onfcderacy. I shall not justify Mr. 
Fierce for receiving Dorr at the time, but I will 
say in rehuion to him, that he was then compar- 
atively a young man, and that having cultivated 
the I.SSOI1H of liberty which his anceslnr had 
tAught him, much, in the language of Mr. Burke, 
IS to be pardoned to the spirit of liberty. Another 
thinf is to l»e said, that the judgment in relation 
irt n.irr hi^d not then been formed. It was then 
■' ii'.,'h the ordeal of trial, and I know 
I- dyoungmanliadriianurftj<i«gi(Wici 
Mr. Pierce gave Dorr Blieltcr: 
tiiji 11 I.;. II. ud and front of his ofllnding. 

fSir, I hnve itlways regarded it as one of the 
tnoirt odious arts of tlu! Rritish Govi riiment , when 
Napoli on Iloimpnrte M-ent on i)oanl the Hejlc- 
rop!i..n, riaimrng the rights of hospitality, that 
ihcy changed his condition into that of a pris- 



oner of war. His reputation and position in the 
world entitled him to tlie rights and honors 
awarded to Themistocles. IfDorr, instead of 
going to New Hampshire, had gone to South 
Carolina, perhaps, at that time, I myself, to thia 
deluded young man, would have been the last to 
have seen him sacrificed to his delusions; and I 
believe much may be pardoned to the spirit of 
liberty, guided by the ardor of youth. 

' I come' now to another personage in this affair, 
a distinguished friend of mine, General Atchi- 
son, who has also received the notice both of the 
Senator from New Hampshire and the Senator 
from Massachusetts. I have known General 
Atchison long and well. They have attributed 
to him a ferocity and vulgar indiiference and reck- 
lessness in relation to the affairs in Kansas, which 
is refuted by every confidential letter which he 
has written to me, and which is not in conform- 

^ ity to the truth. I will not say that General 
Atchison is the enemy of any one. I will not 
say that he is the enemy of the emigrants in Kan- 
sas who have been sent there by the aid societies; 

i but I say that I know of no man, within the range 
of my acquaintance, who could be invested more 
effectually with the attributes of the conqueror of 
that class of people. And how do you suppose 
he would exercise that high power.' Let tnose 
who now asperse him settle around him i\s neigh- 

^ bors, and if their houses were burned down and 
assistance were required, he would be the first 

I man to render them assistance, and he would 
conquer them by his kindness, by his justice, by 
his good sense, and by his generosity. There 
never was a better illustration of his character 
than the conduct he displayed in tlie expected 
tragedy at Lawrence. I know the fact, and I 
state it on my authority, as a truth not to be dis- 

|] puted, (because I have his letters in my drawer,) 

■ that, when that controversy arose. General Atchi- 
son was absolutely callea upon to attend Gen- 

; oral Richardson's command, and he went with a 

positive pledge on the part of those with whom 

ne was associated that he should rather be the 

Mentor than the leader; and he has written to 

me that, butforliis mediatorial offices, the housca 

I of the people of Lawrence would have been burnt 

ijand the streets drenched in blood. An appeal 

i was made to him under circumstances which his 

I magnanimous nature could not resist. He had the 

'courage to do a duty which in its performance 

might even offend his comrades and associates — 

a courage much higher than that of meeting an 

I open enmy in the field. He effectually exerted 

I his influence, under the appeal made to him, 

I to save from fire and sword the village ofLaw- 

i rence, the stronghold of the aid society emigrants. 

■ But for the gentle advice , and , perhaps, controlling 
, influence of Atchison, the houses of the scttle- 

! ment would have been burnt and its highways 
! drenched with blood. 

I When these people were supnliants, how dif- 
] fcrently they felt then from what their calum- 
nies have evinced since ! The generous person 
Ijwho saved them is to be converted into their 
|| ferocious persecutor; Atchison is to be immo- 
I lated on the altar of fanatical vengeance; and 
;! that, too, through the medium of anonymous 
/writers in newspapers, under the sanction of 
j! speeches made in this Chamber. Well, sir, ia 
jl this to bo ilia requital? Arc aspcision and mis- 



27 



representation to pervert the truth of history? 
Gentlemen have attributed to him a ferocity of 
unexampled character — an attribute that cannot 
assimilate to his nature. Throughout the whole 
contest he has always said that he was in favor 
of — to use his own expression — "the competition 
of preemption settlers." He believed that if that 
competition had been left to itself, and if there 
had been no hostile demonstration on the part of 
the northern societies, Kansas would have been 
settled by neighbors knowing each other, and 
who would have less objection because they 
did know each other; and that in the end, per- 
haps, there might be a few negroes, probably an 
"old mammy," or some favorite servants for 
household purposes, or some field-laborers, con- 
tented in and bettered by their condition. He 
supposed that there might have been a population 
of that sort, and such as the masters would not 
like to desert, and such as they would not com- 
mit to the Abolitionists. It would have been, in 
technical phrase, perhaps, a population with some 
masters, but with some servants, and scarcely any 
slaves. Those called masters would have been 
more like guardians, and those calledslnYes would 
have been better off for their protection. In this 
relation they become objectionable to the Abo- 
litionists, who are willing to set them free, that 
they may become vagabonds, and be destroyed 
under the pkilantlwopy of proscription and rivalry. 

Under the current of this settlement, Kansas 
would likely have become a quasi community, 
with many white men and few negroes— with 
labor capable of being usefully and profitably 
employed — a community of farmers, using labor 
as they thought proper. In this way, by accre- 
tion, Kansas might have become a State. 

Sir, I am not going to put on an equality, or any- 
thing like an equality, the movements and conduct 
of those who have gone to Kansas with Sharpe's 
rifles in their hands, and the Missouri " border 
rufRans," as they have been termed. They are 
not in fan delictu. The difference between the 
jjopulation of a portion of the two sections has 
never been so well illustrated, as in that very 
demonstration. The western people, of daring 
gallantry, ofopen hospitality, trustto the occasion, 
and when they draw the sword, it is rather under 
the influence of heat and passion than malice— | 
but with a fertility of expedients that is equal to 
craft; and if they commit homicide under such | 
circumstances, it is reduced at least to the grade 
of manslaughter. When, however, I see an organ- 
ization at a distance of a thousand miles from the 
Territory, sending out men who go, not with 
fowling-pieces or the ordinary rifles, or common 
weapons of defense which they might use, but 
all going with one uniform gun — Sharpe's rifle — 
let me not be told that they were going there 
for merely the innocent purpose of settling the : 
Territory themselves. It is evident they "were 
going there to drive off'others,if it became a con- 
test, which the Missouri " border ruflians," as 
they are called, never anticipated. The crime of 
those who are designated by that name, if homi- 
cide should be committed, would be much nearer 
the character of manslaughter, whilst the blood 
shed by their opponents would much nearer ap- 
proach a mercenary homicide. 

Now, sir, I suppose this controversy may be 
regarded as a great ejectment case — perhaps the 



greatest that was ever tried — to try the title of 
the two different sections to the public domain, 
the common domain belonging to the whole Union. 
I suppose the emigrant aid societies' settlers may 
be regarded as one party, and what they choose 
I to call the " border ruffians" the other party — 
one the Joha Doe, the other the Richard Roa, 
I in this lawsuit. I am perfectly willing that the 
suit shall be tried by justice and truth, and not 
I under the heated declamation of gentlemen who 
j intend to inflame the public mind of their own 
I section, without regard to the dictates of the truth 
of history. Now, what are the facts in relation 
to this case.' As I have them, from authentic 
j sources, they are not such as can give John Doe 
I much credit. 

In my opinion. Governor Reeder will have to 
! answer, more than any other human being for the 
blood which will be shed — if any shall be shed — 
I for he occupied an important position to control 
I events. I suppose none will doubt now, that 
I when the Missouri Hue was adopted, it was done 
I by a mere legislative power, and therefore could 
I be wiped out by the same competent authority. 
Missouri was admitted against the consent of the 
North, as a body; but the South, in a sprit of 
compromise, agreed to that line. How has she 
been treated? Since I have been a member of 
'< the Senate, no opportunity has been off'ered when 
; some northern man has not, on the occasion of 
I territory being acquired south of that line, made 
! a motion to exclude the slaveholder. There ha3 
I not been a single occasion, when the opportu- 
nity has been presented, when they have not 
j violated the implied pledge contained in the obli- 

I gations of that line. I ring it in their ears. If 

I I had no other cause to wipe out the line, I could 
find it in the fact that they have not regarded it 

j in good fiiith, but have violated theirpublic honor 
j and plighted faith, as expressed on the statute- 
book. When Oregon was organized into a Ter- 
ritory, this feeling so far prevailed that it would 
I not allow southern men to vote for it, upon the 
I ground that inasmuch as the Territory lay north 
of 3G0 30', it might be organized under the intend- 
i ment of the Missouri compromise. 

Sir, you will remember the occurrences of the 
war with Mexico. Day after day many of us 
went to the War Department expecting to hear, 
what many did hear, the dreadful results of battle 
to friends and relatives. I suppose we may con- 
sider the war with Mexico as having been fought 
to a certain extent to acquire the territory which 
' followed its termination through the medium of 
negotiation. At that time, when the South con- 
tributed as many men, and as much money, for 
the prosecution of the war as the North — the 
South sending forth many more men — did I not 
hear a Senator from New York [Mr. Dix] rise in 
his place and say that he intended to maintain the 
Wilmot proviso on the ground mainly that it 
would create a cordon of free States around the 
slaveholdino; States, and with the assertion of the 
superior civilization of the free States? Was that 
no violation of the Missouri compromise? I put 
it now fairly to the men who speak in this heated 
language, if territory were to be acquired to-mor- 
row would they not propose the same Wilmot 
proviso ? Do they think that no violation of the 
Missouri compromise ? They claim positively all 
that was conceded to them, and deny the benefit 



28 



of its provisions to the South that made the con- 
cession. JN'ow, I am willing: to propose a game 
o{/air play. Ltt the opinion of the people, as it may 
bt fvruied in the process qf lerrilorial existence, de- 
tcriijiiie the character of tlie State, and, whetlier 
die State prescuiing herself for ad^iiission shall 
admit or exclude slavery, be no bar to her admis- 
nion. 

Sir, that compromise, as it has been called, lias 
never been observed. Th»?re never has been an 
opportunity ottered when those who cry out about 
in abrogation have not been willing to violate 
its true intendnunt, I say its true intendment, 
L<.-cuuse suuih of tliat line it was always under- 
stood that the people should have a right to hold 
filavcs or not, according to their own option. In 
rej^ard to the Territory of Kansas, I think it 
might Well have been left a debatable ground — 
Ktiihi r to call in a skveholding nor a non-slave- 
J.ohling State. It was an occasion when we 
might have cemented, in some measure, the bonds 
of tite ancient brotherhood; but no, sir, we find 
that gentlLiiien come in with the Bible in one hand 
to preach against slavery, and the torch in the i 
other. That is the attitude in which they present 
themselves in the tenijile of our common delibera- 
tions — the toroii in one hand and the Bible in the 
•iiher — the pulpii and Sharpe's rille. Under tlie 
l>anner of theology, incendiaries march, with | 
torches in their hands, proclaiming God's will, 
but doing their own. 1: 

I have stated ouu reason whv the Missouri line 
itiiould have been disregarded bv the southern 
l>coj>!e. IS'ow, I go further; and I say, in regard 
Ui the inunediate issue on which the President 
UnM made the proclamation, he is justified. How , 
woji it brought about.' I said before, that Gov- 
t-rnor Reedcr was responsible for it. I say so 
now. By what authority did Ileeder go to Ivan- j 
saa.' He Went there under the authority of a 
law regularly constituting a territorial govern- 
nKiit, He went there to be its Governor, and to 
cArry out the provisions of that law, just as 
juuch ju if the Missouri line had not been re- i 
jtaled. Ileeder received his commission as a 
tenant under a landlord; and I have always said 
tliut it was one of the wisest provisions of the 
common law that no tenant should be allowed to 
dispute his landlord's title, lie was placed there 
»■•= I - I.!. •■ 1; but what was his course? He first 
Legislature at Pawnee City. They 
,■ there before they adjourned to the 
I i:<ii>n. He refused to sanction the 
uJjuUii.at<.i.t; and the very first bill brought to 
him afterwards was one chartering the Kickapoo 
Ferry Company, I think. He refused to sanc- 
tion the bill, and refus.-d to maintain the authority 
which had been conferred on him, and without 
whirh he would have been a criminal intruder. 
A« he MLUM there un^er the color of law, he was 
in B pumtion t« do much evil or to do much good. 
He WttJi the trusted ollicer on the quarter-deck in 
A alorm, and by hia judgment might save the 
»ema<l. lie refused to continue with his trust, 
and hna riv. n rise to a fearful trial. ; 

Well, mi, when Ileeder would not do his duty : 

and cnrry out the provisiuna of the law, what was | 

il)' I'l i.I. Ill to do? Ilemove him, of course. ' 

^' -t removed, what woa the next step? ^ 

iiiil iheiiiHelves frcu-State settlers, j 

ill out by the aid societies, assembled [\ 



at Big Springs, and nominated as their Governor 
(perhaps 1 may be mistaken, as their Delegate to 
Congress) this man, M'ho was in open rebellion 
to his own authority — a man who had disputed 
the title under which he entered the Territory. 
They not only did that, but they instituted pro- 
ceedings for establishing a government to invest 
themselves, under the name of squatter sover- 
eignty, with, I suppose, the right of usurpers. 
They had a second meeting at Topeka, and 
adopted a constitution in convention, and under 
that constitution elections have been held, and a 
Governor, judges, and members of the Legisla- 
ture have been elected. That Legislature was to 
assemble yesterday. God knows wliat may be 
the tragedy growing out of the 4th of March, 1856. 
Sir, the news of what occurred in Kansas on the 
4th of March, 185G, may bring us the intelligence 
which will be the knell of the institutions— I will 
not say of the Union — of this country; fori hoi>e 
there is wisdom enough left to )>reserve repuD- 
lican institutions in durable form, should the pres- 
ent Union be no more. 

What was the President to do under these 
circumstances? Who brought about this catas- 
trophe ? What is the attitude of these men? 
Tliey have taken the laws into their own hands, 
and when they did so they implored David R. 
Atchison for mercy, and he saved them. Here 
I will do him the justice to say that he has not 
heretofore passed the Rubicon, with the spirit of 
an ambitious ruler; but if hereafter he ever passes 
that Rubicon, all his benevolence — and it is very 
large — will not enable him to overlook the taunts 
and insults which have been heaped upon him. 
If David R. Atchison shall ever pass the line 
ogain, and say as Caesar did, " I have passed the 
Rubicon, and now I draw the sword," I should 
dread the contest, for the very reason that he 
who goes into matters of this kind with reluct- 
ance IS most to be feared. Remember, sir, that 
Hector, at the siege of Troy, was tlie last to 
espouse the cause of one who had done dishonor 
to Priam's house, and he was the last to desert 
it. He perished for the coward who got liim 
into the dilTiculty. The proud patriot was averso 
to the quarrel of elleminate Paris — but once in, 
he was the last to yield up the honor of the house 
of Priam . 

Sir, this subject enlarges itself very much in 
the estimation of gentlemen who have spoken 
upon it. I shall use no epithets towards the Sen- 
ator from New Hampshire. I have thus far at- 
tempted to avoid them. I have characterized his 
speech, but 1 have usid no epithiits. The Sen- 
ator from New Hampshire undertakes to say that, 
throughout the whole of the controversy in rela- 
tion to the public domain of the United States, 
the South have been the aggressors. " Southern 
aggression" was the term on liis lips — southern 
aggression — southern insohmce and dough-face 
treason on the part of his own countrymen ! Both 
statements are untrue. I do not impute to liiin 
personal untruth. I make the remark in a his- 
torical and parliamentary debate, and lam speak- 
ing of transactions. Let the Senator answer me 
one question. When Virginia ceded the North- 
western Territory, out of which five free States 
have been created, was it southern aggression ? 
When she parted with that domain, and gave it 
over to the non-slaveholding population of tlie 



29 



Worth, was it southern aggression? She parted 
with her domain and bestowed it as a bounty upon 
those who have enjoyed it. I will not say who is 
the Cordelia or the Regan in the sisterhood, but I 
can say who has been the Lear. It was the Old 
Dominion. Little did Virginia think, when she 
planted those States by her own hand, that they 
would give rise to a controversy in which an 
opinion would be inculcated by which she should 
be reproached for her decrepitude. She can well 
say: 

" How sharper than a sprpent 's tooth it i3 
To have a thankless child." 
Hostile allies have availed themselves of the 
power thus acquired, and, like a cockatrice, are 
willing to sting the bosom that gave them life. 
The nurses, however, are much worse than the 
children, some of whom I have reason to know 
are true-hearted, and are willing to maintain good 
faith, but for the intermeddling of fanatical influ- 
ence that regards no restraint of law and compact. 
Do you call that southern aggression.' The 
South then parted with her power, and now it is 
regarded as southern aggression when she resents 
the insults of those who have availed themselves 
of it. At least, this much may be fairly said — 
tlie fanatical portion of the North are willing to 
use ail the advantage thus given to assail the 
southern section. 

Now, look at the acquisition of the Territory 
of Louisiana. There the South agreed to exclude 
herself from all that portion of it north of 360 30', 
and one free State (Iowa) has been formed out of 
that portion of the Territory. The Senator from 
New Hampshire quoted the opinions of many 
Senators to the effect that Kansas is not to be a 
slave State. Sir, I do not know that it will be a 
slaveholding State. I say, however, that, when 
the southern portion of the United States parted 
with that dominion which we rightfully possessed , 
and allowed ourselves to be excluded from the 
Louisiana territory, we played the part of a gen- 
erous parent who has only met with the scorn 
and contempt which a want of wisdom justly de- 
serves. It was putting a rod in the hands of 
others, without knowing who they were, under 
the hope that it would be used as a weapon of 
common defense, but which has been used against 
the donor as a means of controlling his authority. 
When we obtained California, by whose treas- 
ure and whose arms was it acquired ? Sir, I will 
not imitate the example of the Senator from New 
Hampshire. I will not in my place allow myself 
to say that it was notacquired by northern as well 
as by southern arms, and by northern as well as 
by southern treasure. A protest was made that 
that acquisition was to redound to the South. 
Let me ask where the $300,000,000 which it is 
said have been collected from CaUforniahave been 
poured out like the dew of heaven, which 
arises in one place and descends on another. I 
will not say, in this connection, that I might 
emblazon the fame and gallantry of southern 
heroes and generals. I might be as proud of the 
gallantry of my own section, as antiquity was of 
the heroes of Greece and of Rome, and the heroes 
of Marathon. I will not refuse a common grave 
to the gallant Ransom, and the equally gallant 
Dickerson, who fell in the same battle. I would 
not deny to them the mingled wreath of the laurel 
and the cypress. Sir, in the face of the truth of. 



history, when we had shed our blood in a com- 
mon contest, and when we acquired a territory 
by common treasure, what is the fact.' Has it 
I not been appropriated to the non-slaveholding 
' portion of this Confederacy, under a non-slave- 
holding constitution } That is southern aggres- 
sion ! 

Did the honorable Senator from New Hamp- 
shire think that he could satisfy any one who 
heard him on these points ? No, sir; but it looks 
as if he intended to feed the flames which are 
burning, but which he, in his benevolence, ought 
to extinguish. The gravamen of his argume'nt, 
however, is, that Texas was annexed with a 
view to pander to southern insolence and pride. 
Now, I intend, in that connection, to propound 
some questions which those who agree with him 
will find it very difficult to swallow. They have 
been so much used to eating dainty things at the 
North, that their stomachs are not quite strong 
enough for the wholesome food which I might 
offer them, and which their sentimental stomachs 
might reject. I will put my questions, however, 
to the Senator from New Hampshire, for I am 
better acquainted with him, and I suppose he is 
the organ, and stands at the head, of those who 
agree with him in opinion. Would he consent 
that Texas should have become a British prov- 
ince, with the certainty that England would place 
that province in the same condition as its West 
India islands, and with the certainty that her 
policy would be to make war on the institutions 
of Louisiana and other southern States ? Would 
he take the part of England in such a contro- 
versy, sooner than of those who have given us 
our liberties and our rights ? Would he consent 
that Great Britain should take possession of 
Texas, and make war, like a roaring lion, seek- 
ing whom it may devour among its neighbors ? 
Would he consent to that, on an acknowledged 
condition only that it should not have slaves, and 
should be pledged to make war on the institutions 
of the southern States.' Would he agree to make 
war on his southern confederates on such condi- 
tions and through such agencies .' 

The next question which I have to propound 
on that point is, whether they would consent that 
Texas should, up to this time, have retained her 
separate existence as an independent Republic 
upon our borders, carrying on, in a commercial ■ 
point of view, a competition with us, which would 
have redounded to the advantage of the South; 
because, if Texas had opened her ports under the 
doctrine of free trade, she would have conciliated 
her southern neighbors both by propinquity, con- 
sanguinity, interest, and trade; and she would 
have had a right to do it. The North would 
have suffered more by her separate existence 
than the South, because they would have brought 
goods to Galveston, and when they got there all 
the Sharpe's riHes and the pulpits of the North 
could not prevent them from going wherever the 
people chose to carry them. I say nothing about 
smugghng. Let those do it who are accustomed 
to it. I wish to make no invidious distinctions; 
but I may remark that the Yankee is a very keen 
fellow, and I think he is the pioneer at bargain- 
making and trade wherever there is an oppor- 
tunity. 

The next question I put to the gentleman is, 
whether they would consent now to remit Texas 






* ■•"•fe 



^.^ A^^ 






^ 



o >■ 






•^•^' 










^^v 



-s'' 






^^^■■y\ 




•?, 



y -«. 






s--^ 



•t. *♦ 



'^,„ _.-!.' ••.^•. ^.^, 









.^ ^ 







^, 



>iff»;' 



